Don't Go Into the Dark (Abandoned and Under Rewrite)
by trvsh-przv
Summary: In the Quarantine Zone, you run, or you die. One mistake could see you shambling around the streets, or in pieces on the ground. There aren't many rules. Anarchy reigns. But to everyone, no matter what side you're on, there's one rule no one ever breaks. You don't go into the dark. AU storyline, trying to keep things fresh. Rating for language and violence. Rahim/OFC. Lots of OCs
1. Prologue: Diverted

**A/N**

 **After finishing Dying Light for about the 15th time, I decided to see what other people's takes on the world were. I was pretty shocked to see that not only were there less than 30 stories, most of them were only 1k or so words. So, I took it upon myself to write this, an A/U spanning about 150k words, going from the start of the game, all the way to the end. How is it an A/U? You'll just have to find out.**

 **Also, I don't own Dying Light. Its entire content belongs to Techland.**

* * *

I ran as fast as I could. Weaving through buildings, leaping over fences and cars. I ran into a parking lot. Wide open, with only a few cars to use as cover. I slid across the hood of a police car, my leg catching on a shard of glass. I hissed in pain as I fell into a crouch on the other side of the car. Throwing open the door, I climbed inside. The cut on my leg was deep, running the entire length of my thigh. It would need to be stitched up when I got back to the safe-house.

A screech cut through the air. Long and inhuman. I sunk into the seat and glanced out the window. A Volatile, a relatively small one, but just as deadly as any other. I suppressed a curse, any sound I made would be picked up. I kept watching. It scanned the parking lot, looking for any sign of life. A plane thundered overhead, the Volatile followed it across the sky. I looked up, a parachute deployed. It was smaller than usual, surely not enough to support several hundred kilos of supplies. It could only mean one thing; someone was dropping in. As the plane passed the Volatile turned its attention back to the lot. Letting out another screech, it leapt from the roof, dropping to the ground with a thud that rattled the windows of the car.

I had to run. If I stayed where I was, I would surely die. Or in the worst case, turn. The Volatile was closer. Stalking towards me in a predatory manner, searching for where ever the smell of blood came from. Searching for me.

I made a split second decision. I bolted from the car, a cry from behind me telling me I had its attention. I jumped a low fence, skidding down the hill on the other side, rolling to my feet at the bottom. I couldn't stop, if I stopped I died. The Volatile was still behind me, its heavy breathing spurring me on. I rolled under a pipe, and jumped through a train car. The safe-house was right in front of me, just a little further. The only thing between me and safety was a chain fence, and the police van that signalled the entrance. I vaulted the fence too quickly, my foot caught a loop. My momentum was dragged to a sudden stop, and I fell.

Landing hard on my side, I rolled onto my back in time to see the Volatile climb onto the top of the fence. It jumped to the ground, stalking forwards as I scrambled back. I felt cold metal on my hand. The van! I just needed to climb over and I would be safe. I started to pull myself to my feet when a foot crashed into my chest. I'd forgotten about the Volatile. I looked up, its jaws mere centimetres from my face. They pulled apart, and I closed my eyes, waiting.

 _Bang!_ A gunshot. Close. I could still feel the foot on my chest, pressing me against the side of the van. I opened my eyes to see the Volatile staring towards the Tower. _Bang!_ Another shot. The Volatiles head snapped in the direction of the sound, it was over to the East. _Bang!_ The Volatile turned back to me, lowering its head level with mine. It opened it jaws again, and roared. I forced my eyes shut, feeling saliva pelt my face. My ears rang from the sound. I felt the foot lift from my chest and heard the Volatile running. _Bang!_ My eyes widened in realisation. The person from before. If they had just dropped in, they wouldn't know about Volatiles.

My leg protested as I stood up, there was no way whoever it was would still be alive by the time I got there. Regardless, I headed to where the shots had come from. If I was lucky, they came prepared with supplies of some kind. Food, water, weapons. Anything that could help me survive. I climbed up through a building, jumping up the stairs where they had collapsed. I pushed a trap door open at the top and climbed out onto the roof. Crouching behind the low concrete wall, I could see a parachute caught on an overhang, and surprisingly, a struggling person attached to the end. He was attempting to cut the chords with a small knife. I looked around for the Volatile, knowing that it would be close by. Sure enough, it was sitting across from the parachuter, watching him carefully. I watched the way it sat, balanced on a light pole, its head tilted to the side.

 _Like a cat watching a mouse before it leaps._

The man didn't seem dangerous, he had a rucksack strapped to his back, a pistol on his side and a knife in his hands. The gun would be the only real problem. If he managed to survive. With a sharp snap, the ropes holding him up gave way. He dropped the 5 metres to the ground, rolling with the fall. He stood with the handgun drawn, pointed at the Volatile. It wouldn't do him much good, the infected's armour would be too thick to pierce. Knowing he was doomed, I started to shuffle away. My foot kicked a discarded can. It rattled along the roof. _Bang!_ The low wall in front of me exploded into a shower of dust and chips of stone. I heard the Volatile roar, there was a thud. _Bang! Bang! Bang!_ A scream ripped through the air. This time, it wasn't from the Volatile. The screams stopped, replaced only by the sounds of flesh being torn apart. I climbed back down through the building, heading to the safe house. I would try to scavenge anything left from him when the sun rose, and the horrors hid away.

* * *

My watch beeped. _06:20_. Safe, at least safer than night time. I dragged myself out of the sleeping bag and ran a hand through my hair.

That was way too close last night. I almost lost my life to a Volatile, all thanks to my stupidity. If I hadn't insisted that we needed to do a night run for supplies, I wouldn't have almost died, and the Tower wouldn't be down 4 runners. Climbing over the van, I started heading towards where the man's body should be. If I was lucky, the supplies would be undamaged.

I climbed back up through the building, and pulled myself up onto the roof. The alleyway below was a mess. The parachute was still caught on the overhang, the body of the man in a pile on the ground, dried blood stained the ground around him. Climbing down the outside of the building, I dropped off the lowest awning. The smell in the enclosed space was horrendous. The heat of the sub-tropical climate rotting the corpse faster than normal. I pulled my machete off the side of my pack and crept forward slowly. Biters would be attracted to this like flies. I was surprised that they weren't already there. Crouching down over the body, I started to roll him over when a growl came from behind. I spun around, machete raised, and saw a biter stumbling out of one of the buildings.

It lunged at me, and with one swing of the blade, I severed its head. Quickly looking through the doorway, I saw the room was completely sealed to the road. Blood smeared across the ground and walls. Almost as bad as the alleyway I stood in. I turned back to the body, the rucksack now exposed. Sifting through the contents, I pulled out anything that might be useful. A length of rope, cans of dried food, the small knife, and several magazines of ammunition. The handgun was still grasped in his hand. Bending the fingers back, I pried it from them. I unclipped the holster from his shoulders and fastened it around my own. Sliding the gun into place, I packed away all the items I needed. As I turned to leave, the rucksack on the ground vibrated. Rummaging through it again, I pulled out what seemed to be a cracked satellite phone. It vibrated again. Pressing the green button in the centre, I lifted it up to my ear. After a moment, a voice cut through the static.

" _Crane, report."_


	2. Chapter 1: 13 and Down

**So second chapters here. Gonna be a bit longer than the last one, a few thousand words at least. More character interactions in this one too, with the GRE and the Tower inhabitants, and Cranes fate gets cleared up. Plus I decided to throw in a little bit of backstory for our new main character. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own Dying Light. It belongs to the artists that are Techland.**

* * *

 _Rummaging through it again, I pulled out what seemed to be a cracked satellite phone. It vibrated again. Pressing the green button in the centre, I lifted it up to my ear. After a moment, a voice cut through the static._

 _"Crane, report."_

* * *

I froze. I hadn't thought about what would happen when I answered it.

" _Crane? Report your situation."_ The voice again. It sounded impatient. Deciding I had nothing to lose, I replied.

"He's dead." That would be enough. I didn't need to say more.

" _Acknowledged. Please state your identity." T_ hat rang alarm bells in my head, the way they threw off this person, an agent of some kind, as if they were nothing. It didn't sit right with me. I decided that a first name would be enough.

"Ardelis." If they came up with anything from that, I'd be surprised. After a pause, the same voice came through again.

" _Confirmed. State the manner in which he was terminated."_ The cold way they handled this bugged me to no end. I didn't know him, I could afford to act detached.

"He got tackled by a Vollie. Never stood a chance."

" _Please repeat, tackled by what?"_ I sighed. I wasn't used to explaining what things in here were. Everyone already knew.

"Big, agile armoured bastard. Volatile. Vollie. Death." I'd never actually seen one until last night. If I saw one again, it would be too soon. There was another pause.

" _We don't have any records of that infected."_ A few seconds went by. _"Please keep the phone with you. We'll call at a later designation."_ The line went dead. As I tucked it into my pack, I realised I never asked who they were. Making a mental note, I climbed back up the outside of the building I came from and headed back to the safe-house.

* * *

My headset pinged. A call from the Tower. I pressed the return call button.

"And which lovely person am I talking to today?" I could make a guess, and my money was on Rahim for today.

" _We need you back in the Tower now."_ Brecken. For reasons I could never understand why, he couldn't stand me.

"Nice to speak to you too Breck."

" _Cut the shit Ardelis, Mark went to find his brother on the 13th floor and hasn't come back up, you need to get here and find out what happened."_ Shit.

"Unlucky 13, just my luck." I let just a hint of sarcasm into my voice.

" _Yeah well consider it your day."_ The headset went silent. I closed my sketchbook, and stood up. Brushing the dust off my clothes I got ready to leave.

* * *

It took me most of the day to cross the city, Virals were everywhere. Something had drawn them out, possibly the gunshots of the night before. Entering the lobby of the Tower, I climbed up the ledge where the stairs used to sit. Pulling myself over the lip, I looked up and saw the barrel of a rifle pointed at me. I froze halfway up.

"Shit Nadeau, way to scare a girl." Nadeau Atan. All but a brother to me. He was always looking out for me, even before this shit started.

"Sorry Lis, just gotta make sure." He extended a hand, which I gratefully took, and hoisted me up. "We've had more Virals trying to get in over the past few weeks." I held up a hand.

"Say no more." He gave me a look as if to say _'What are you doing back here?'_ I stood for a moment before telling him. "Floor 13." He hissed through his teeth. "Tell me about it. Hey, you wanna save me some food? No idea how long I'll be there for." He nodded his head as the elevator opened. I stepped inside and pressed 13.

* * *

The smell hit me like a wall. I pulled my bandana up over my mouth and nose. It did nothing to help. I'd never actually been to floor 13, but I'd heard stories about it. Hundreds of biters, all crammed into 400 square metres of space. I never actually believed the rumours, even still, they inspired fear. Stepping out of the elevator, I pulled my machete out. If what I suspected was true, I would need it more than ever. My pack vibrated. The phone announcing its presence. Pulling it out, I pressed the button.

"What?" I had no reason to be civil with these people, I didn't even know who they were.

" _We have decided that you are to continue with Cranes assignment. You are to-"_ I cut her off with a snort of derision.

"Fuck no. Who even are you people? Why should I be helping you? You're acting as if the guy didn't even die, and I know at some point you would have worked with him. So don't give me this 'Let's pass off some important fucking UN mission or some shit onto a girl, who we don't even know.' So you give some fucking answers now, or your precious phone falls 13 stories, and your mission goes down the drain." Silence. At least a minute of it.

" _I'm a founder of the GRE. I don't really think my name is relevant. As for why we're passing the mission onto you, Ardelis Rosier, is because we have evaluated you against our criteria. We found you most likely to succeed in achieving our goal."_ I flinched at who she was working for. _"As for why we're acting as if Crane never died, well… let's just say that he is one of many who could have been dropped in."_ That answered nothing. It only raised more questions.

"Look here lady, I don't know why you chose me, or what this mission is, but if you think I'm gonna work for _you_ , there's something coming your way. If I get nothing from it, then why would I do it?" More silence.

" _The fate of the world rests on this mission."_ Shit. _"We had a sensitive file copied and stolen by one Kadir Suleiman. After the outbreak, we lost track of him. We believe him to be hiding as either the Tower leader, or a local bandit leader. We need someone to retrieve the file from him, and you, Ms. Rosier, are the most viable option. Any information you can provide to us will be greatly appreciated."_ All I get for possibly risking my life more than usual is appreciation?

"I'll pass. Just, send in another agent or something. And try to avoid night, people tend to die in the dark." There was just one more thing that needed to be dealt with. "Also, how the fuck do you know my name? I'm pretty sure an orphan from the slums isn't going to have much of a record."

" _We know all about you, Rosier. More than you think."_ The line died. I swore, resisting the urge to pelt the phone from the window. I slumped down against the wall and ran a hand through my hair.

 _How did my life get to this point?_ It was at this moment, I heard a scream from down the hall.

* * *

My steps were unbearably loud in the hallway. Each one echoed off the walls and empty rooms. The floors ran in circles, all paths led back to the elevators. As I passed a room on the end, I could hear breathing from inside. Steeling myself, I pushed the door open. I was immediately thrown back by a huge force, rushing from the other side.

A Viral. Avrom Kavur, Mark's brother. I slammed into the wall side on, hitting my head. Something in my arm cracked. Sliding to the ground, I swiped at an incoming hand. It darted back before my blade could sever it. The Viral, Avrom, screamed and lunged at me. He landed on my legs, popping the rough stitches. The cut started to bleed anew, covering the ground slowly. Avrom lunged again, opening his mouth to bite at my neck. I hastily held up the blade, he caught it in his teeth. I tried to wrestle it away from him, but with my other arm injured I lost my grip and the machete went sailing down the hall. Thinking quickly I pushed my good hand against his neck, keeping him from biting down on mine. He clawed at me, my arm and face becoming riddled with shallow gouges. I brought my leg up and kicked, landing it straight on his chest. I heard ribs break. It did nothing but stall for time. As a last resort, I pulled out the small knife that I salvaged from Crane and waited for him to leap again. He did, and this time I was ready. At the last second, I swung the knife up, pointing it straight towards him.

His body went slack, jaw hanging loosely, becoming dead weight. I rolled him off me, and sat back against the wall. I looked at the knife imbedded in his forehead, and let out a choked sob. I'd been friends with Avrom. He was kind, always helping others before himself. And look where that got him. Infected with a knife buried 4 inches deep. I ran a hand over my face, not caring if it was bloodied. I could feel my heart beating through my leg, the gash still bleeding. Dragging myself up with the wall, I limped into the room Avrom had been occupying.

Mark was dead. His throat was torn out, his organs were were lying beside him. He never even turned. I changed my headset to channel 7.

"Hey Lena, I'm on floor 13." I sank into the couch, my leg finally giving up on me. "Mark's… He didn't make it. Avrom either."

"Shit A, what about you?" She sounded like my mother.

"No bites, if that's what you're asking," I chuckled. "I had to fight Av. He Viralled out. Think something in my arm broke, and my leg opened up again." I expected to hear how I should put pressure on the wound, immobilise the arm, all that shit.

" _What do you mean again?"_ I forgot to mention my run in with the Vollie.

"I cut my leg on the mission the other night. It didn't seem like a big deal at the time."

" _Come on A, stay with me. I'll be down in a moment."_ Stay with her? What did she mean by that? _"Focus on my voice. Stay awake."_ It was too late. The world spiralled into black, and everything went away.

* * *

I sat up with a gasp. The hospital bed creaked in protest. I looked around wildly. Everything was blurred and muffled, objects and sounds meshing into each other. A new blur moved in, almost completely blue. I felt hands pushing my shoulders down, as something stabbed into my arm. Everything came back in a wave. Sights and sounds became separate, the blurs solidified, becoming their own objects. Lena stood over me, making notes in a little notebook. She looked at me and gave a strained smile.

"Welcome back A. You lost a lot of blood. Had us worried there for a while." My mind was running on low, I couldn't understand what she was trying to say.

"What do you mean worried? What happened?" She frowned at me. _What now?_

"You don't remember?" I gave her a glare. "Shit, this is new." She pulled a small torch out of one of her pockets. "Look into the light for me A." I followed the light for as long as I could before I had to close my eyes. The brightness was overwhelming. "Okay, now what's the last thing you remember?"

"Really?" It seemed a bit pointless to me. She gave me a look and I held my hands up in defeat. "You're the doctor. Last thing I know is entering the lobby on the ground." I looked around again. I was on floor 19, the medical bay. "How did I get up here?" Lena didn't say anything for a while, just watched me carefully.

Finally, she whistled and pulled out the notebook. "Now that is a concussion if I've ever seen one. You should start remembering things in a few hours, until then, just get some rest." I nodded assent and she left, going off to tend to another patient. How long had I been here for? I looked out the window. Orange sky. Morning. I'd been here for at least one night. What happened to me? I laid back down, and was asleep within seconds.

* * *

 _My parents stood over me, glaring hatefully._

" _It's your fault we're dead." They chorused together. "If you had hidden we'd still be alive. How many more people?" Faces flashed into existence: Yalim, Yasmin, Leyla, and Ceyda, the four we lost the other night. Avrom, Mark. My sister. They all stared at me with red eyes._

" _You killed us all!" They yelled. "How many more, Ardelis? How many!" The faces spiralled together, forming Nadeau standing in front of me. His rifle pointed at my head, a twisted smile on his face._

" _Now you can't hurt anyone." And he pulled the trigger._

* * *

I woke screaming and thrashing about. A strong pair of hands tried to hold me down. I had to leave, I had to get out of there. I threw my arm out, my fist connecting with someone's head. I threw off the other arm and jumped off the bed. Bolting out the door, I shoved past Lena, who stared in disbelief. I ran, all the way up the stairs, all the way to the roof. I raced to the crane, and ran along the arm. Pulling myself up the scaffolding of the cockpit, I climbed as high as I could. As far as I could get from everyone.

I sat on the edge, staring out over the darkening city. Tears ran down my cheeks as I cried silently. I couldn't help anyone, they all died while I was supposed to be looking out for them. I buried my head in my hands, shaking. I felt an arm around me. Rahim.

"Hey Little Sunflower, another one?" I nodded my head. He pulled me closer to him. We sat in silence for a while. "It's not your fault, you know?" I looked up at him, he was smiling. "We both know that what happened wasn't your fault, and don't even start. Could you have known that he had a gun? Could you have known he was drunk out of his mind? Could you have even known that he was at the door?" I shook my head to each one. "Exactly." He said nothing for a while, I didn't trust my voice to speak. "I'm sorry, you know?" I looked up at him confused. "About your sister. I didn't even know you had one. When I found you in the alley, with a dead Viral, I just assumed that… I didn't…" He went silent.

"I know, but it's not just that." It came out as little more than a whisper. I doubt Rahim heard.

"Sorry?" I shook my head for what felt like the fiftieth time that night.

"Never mind. It's not a problem." I said, louder this time, still only a whisper. We sat and watched the sun set over the city.

* * *

I was woken by yelling from down the hall. Lifting myself off my bed, I shuffled out into the hall. The yelling got louder, it was coming from the planning room. Reaching for the handle, it swung inwards before I could grab it. I stumbled backwards, expecting an attack. Jade. The scowl on her face dropped as soon as she saw me. She pulled me forwards in a hug.

"Shit Ari. Don't even God damn do anything like that again, you scared me half to death. You scared all of us to death." I glanced at the room behind her, she caught the motion. "Yeah, Brecken. Again. Went out on a night run, when I told him not to, and now we're down another 2 runners." The four from my mission flashed past, I shook my head to clear them. "He of all people should know, that you don't fucking go out." She gave me a pitying look. "I was actually on my way to get you. He wants to talk to you."

"Shit." Jade laughed.

"Tell me about it." She patted me on the back. "Good luck in there Ari." She turned and left. I sighed, and walked into the planning room.

* * *

Brecken was leaning up against a table. Lena was tending to a gash on his forehead, patching it up with gauze. He glanced over to me but didn't say anything. I leaned against the door frame, waiting for him to speak. Lena finished patching him up. As she walked past, she gave me a reassuring look, and left. I turned back to Brecken, and saw him staring at me.

"There are some airdrops planned for sundown. I need you to go out and get them. If they contain Antizin, bring some back. Rahim's going with you. They drop at 7:00pm and 8:30pm. Go get ready."

"No." He turned and looked at me.

"What?"

"I said no. I'm not going out at sundown, not again. We have enough Antizin to last us for a few more weeks, we aren't that desperate that we need to risk even more lives. And Rahim? There's no way he'd go out if there was a chance of it being night!" My voice rose even more. "I'm sure there are plenty of other people who would go out, just ask around. I'm sure someone will go on your suicide mission. You went on a night mission last night! Look what happened there! Two runners! Who even were they?"

"And what about those four you took with you? What happened to them? You went out at night, that's what!" My eyes narrowed, anger rose inside me.

"You know as well as I do that we left with four hours to sundown. We never saw the storm coming. We were in a safe-house, then the power went out, for the whole fucking district. You tell me you didn't do that! That you weren't setting up traps! At least the ones I was with got a quick death, what about your team? Are the shambling around the streets? Have they gone Viral? Tell me!" He was silent. Then, stalking up to me, he pushed me back against the wall.

"At least you didn't have to kill your friends." He spat. "When they've gone Viral but have enough left to still sound like them, to act like them. That's why you have to go on this mission, so that it doesn't happen to more. What would you sister think if she saw you now?" I slapped him. As hard as I could, the sound echoed through the silent room.

"You don't get to do that to me." I hissed. "You have no idea about anything. No I haven't had to kill my friends. But have you ever watched a family member turn? Had to see them go Viral right in front of you, begging you to run? Have you had to… Have you had to beat them to death? Had to listen while they screamed at you, clawed at you? Have you ever heard your sister beg for her life? Cause I have. And I would never wish it on anyone." I turned to walk out of the room. "I'll go on your fucking mission, but don't expect me to stay after it's done." And I left the room.


	3. Chapter 2: Wild Things

**Third chapters here. To be honest, I'm not really writing this for reviews or anything, I'm just writing it for fun, and FFn was the easiest way to upload. I know a lot of people on here say that to get sympathy reviews, but I'm honestly just writing this 'cause I can. Although I do have to admit, seeing a review does make me feel slightly happy inside. Anyway, this chapter's gonna be a bit Rahim heavy, a lot of interaction between him and Ardelis, and just a little bit of fluff. Including the airdrop mission. Let's get it started.**

 **Also, I've decided that I'm splitting the story into three parts. Part one will run to leaving the sewers in Old Town. Part two from the start of Old Town to the end of the main story. And part three will be entirely focussed on The Following.**

 **You know the drill, I don't own Dying Light blah blah.**

* * *

" _I'll go on your fucking mission, but don't expect me to stay after it's done." And I left the room._

* * *

Almost running, I left the Tower. Nadeau sent me a look as I ran past, but said nothing. I needed to clear me head, to get away from people for a while. I ran all the way to the north of the city, to one of the quarantine zones. No one ever came up here. It was too far away and too dangerous. Sitting on top of the building I stared out over the city again, watching fires burn in the distance. It was quiet, peaceful. And peace was hard to come by here. I sat for what seemed like hours, content, before a door opened behind me.

I jumped up and spun, hand reaching for my machete, only to realise it wasn't there. I swore and readied myself, only to see Rahim. He was holding my machete out to me.

"Thought you might need this, Little Sunflower. Lena asked me to get it back to you." I took it from him without saying a word, and sat back down on the edge. I heard him sit down beside me. "I could hear you yelling at Brecken from the floor below. What did he do this time?" I could feel tears running down my cheeks again.

"He said… He said my sister would be disappointed in me." I whispered.

"Piç kurusu! What gives him any kahrolası right to say that?!" I chuckled. Whenever Rahim got angry he always reverted back to Turkish. Even after speaking English for almost 23 years.

"It's not that big of a deal anymore." He looked like he was about to say something so I cut him off. "I might not be going back to the Tower, ever really." He grabbed hold of my chin and turned me to face him.

"Where would you go?" I looked at him strangely.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, where would you go when you leave the Tower?"

"I'd go stay in a safe-house."

"By yourself?"

"I can take care of myself."

"What would you eat?"

"I'd go to Spike."

"What about medical help?"

"I know enough."

"What about this?" He pointed to my leg.

"That was one time."

"And what if it happens again?"

"I'll be sure it doesn't." He stopped for a while, just staring at me.

"What about me? Jade? All the people in the Tower who rely on you for supplies?"

"Well… I'm sure… There's more than one runner."

"We have four." No.

"What about…" I stopped, trying to think of who there was. Rahim beat me to it.

"Jade, Brecken, me, and you." I looked away from him. That made me rethink my whole plan. If I left, there would only be those three. Brecken had to run the Tower. He could only go out on important missions. Jade could handle herself, she was tough. Not enough to handle every job the people had though. Then there was Rahim. I only met him at the start of the outbreak, but in those few months we'd become closer than anyone else in the Tower. If he got hurt because of a mission I was supposed to take… I sigh heavily.

"Damn it Rahim, how do you always do that?" He laughed slightly.

"I know you Ardelis," he didn't use my nickname for once. It made me stop and look at him. He was staring at a half completed skyscraper. The only known Volatile nest. We'd only sent one team in there, they'd never come back. Rahim's father was on that team.

"We'll get it one day, I promise you that." He looked at me, and smiled.

"So," he jumped track. "What's this I hear about a mission tonight?"

* * *

Rahim's watch beeped. _19:00._ The airdrops would be here soon. I'd explained the mission to him already. Two drops, each containing Antizin. We had to get one, or the Tower would run out before the next. A distant rumble signed the approach of the first drop. I watched it cross the sky, the crates dropping unusually close to the Tower. The parachute deployed. Cranes body flashed through my mind. I shook my head to clear the image.

"You okay?" I looked at Rahim, concern written on his face. I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'm good." Red smoke filled the sky. The flare had popped. "Let's do this." We ran from the door, and down into the front courtyard. Weaving through an alley, and dodging around a pack of biters, I managed to keep pace with Rahim. He was several years older than me, 28 to my 19, but I was already almost as good a runner as he was. The red smoke got thicker, it was just around the corner. I was about to run around when Rahim grabbed my shirt and pulled me back. I was about to yell at him when he put a finger to my lips. I lowered my voice.

"Why have we stopped?"

"Listen," was all he said. So I did. I listened, trying to tune out the ambient sounds. Then I heard laughter. The infected don't laugh. I leaned around the corner, trying to see who was there. Rais' men. Three of them. Their voices carried over.

"Yo, what the fuck are we doing this close to the Tower?"

"We're stealing this drop from right under their nose. Can you imagine their faces?"

"I still don't like it, it's too close to the nest." I felt Rahim tense at the mention of the building.

"Don't worry about it. It's not even fucking night time yet." The third bandit spoke up.

"Hey, you guys wanna shut the fuck up? You'll draw every Viral in the city to us."

"Calm down man, we'll be fine. There's three of us." Something crashed at the other end of the street.

"What was that?"

"Oh shit, Screamer!" We didn't look back as we ran. We had to get away, the area would soon be crawling with Virals and Biters. If the bandits managed to get out alive, I'd willingly give myself up to Rais. A few blocks from the drop, and on top of a three story house, we stopped running. I looked at Rahim, we started laughing. It was the first real laugh I'd let out in days.

"Was that a rush or what?" I jumped over to him and wrapped him in a hug. I missed the adoring look on his face, it was gone before I could see. Something about the bandits struck me as odd. I voiced my concerns. "Why were they that close to the Tower? They never patrol that close." Rahim looked back at where we ran from.

"I honestly have no idea." He paused. "Let's just wait for that second drop. You bring that pack of cards with you?"

* * *

"Got any threes?" I needed two more to get another point. And Rahim had to have at least one,

"Go fish." Damn. I picked up another five. Just one more.

"Any fives?" Shit. I threw the three fives at him. "Go on, brag about it. I know you want to." He gave me a sly look.

"I won't brag yet." He put down four fives. "But I'll brag about this. Now," he didn't give me a chance to complain. "How about… Threes?"

"I give up." I threw my whole hand at him. "How do you keep doing that?" He laughed.

"Talent, luck, and the huge mirror behind you." I turned, and saw myself staring back. I scowled at Rahim's reflection. He smiled and put his thumbs up. I flicked a card out of my sleeve. An ace of hearts. In one motion, I spun at the waist, and flicked. It sailed through the air, striking him in the forehead. He reeled back, a hand up as if fainting from shock. I scooted over to him, laying down and resting my head on his chest. His breathing was steady. In, pause, out. In, pause, out. I twisted my head, looking up at him. The corners of his mouth seemed to be turned upwards, as if he was sharing a joke with himself. I was about to ask, when I found out what he was smiling about. He sat up suddenly, my head dropping into his lap.

"Hey!" I sounded indignant, and I had every right to.

"What's the matter Little Sunflower?" He smirked at me. "Upset that you didn't win? You should be used to it by now." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"I'll have you know that I'm upset at your blatant cheating. And I am not used to losing, isn't the score-"

"25 to 3?" He cut me off. "Indeed it is." I flicked another card at him, he caught it mid-flight. I scoffed.

"Show off."

"You love it."

"You wish."

"Don't I just."

"Ha, in your dreams."

"Every night."

"Gross."

"What did I say before? You love it." Our faces were centimetres away. My breathing hitched. I couldn't. Could I? What would Jade think? I took too long deciding. As soon as our lips met, the rational side of my brain switched off. My arms slid around his neck as his arms went around my waist, pulling me up so I was sitting. I know it sounds cliché to say that everything else faded away, but in that moment I could swear it was true. After an indescribable amount of time, the windows of the room vibrated. Rahim pulled away, eliciting a small moan from me. He rested his chin on the top of my head as the vibrations got worse. I felt his arm move from around me, drawing out a disappointed sigh.

"8:32. Over half hour late." He sighed and rested his arm back around me. "We'll just have to go for it tomorrow." I was the one who pulled back this time.

"Who are you and what have you done with Rahim?"

"What do you mean?"

"The Rahim I know would never back down from a challenge. What have you done with him?" He gave a mirthless chuckle.

"The question isn't what I've done to him, it's what you have." I stared at him incredulously.

"Do you even realise what you just said?"

"Yeah…"

"And?"

"It was terrible, you're right, and let's go get that airdrop."

* * *

"We really should turn back."

"But we're so close. Look," I pointed at a small cliff, the smoke from the flare rising up over the edge. "It's right there, we can do this." Without waiting for a reply, I ran forward and over the edge, spinning in mid-air, I grabbed onto seam where the stones rested together. Dropping down further onto a wooden platform, I rolled off the edge landing on the ground in a crouch. Standing up and brushing myself off, I turned in time to see Rahim leap off the edge. He was too far away to grab on. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned away. There was a muffled thud, followed by laughter. Turning around slowly, I saw him lying on a mountain of trash bags. I let out a shaky breath and stalked forwards. I met him at the bottom.

"Holy shit. Did you see that Sunflower? That was-" I collapsed into him. He stumbled under the unexpected weight.

"Don't ever do that again. If I'd lost you too…" He sighed quietly and wrapped his arms around me.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think about that. It's all so new to me."

"You're not the only one." We stood like that for a few moments before the mission came back into mind. "We should get that airdrop now. Who knows how long it is 'til the night beasts come out." I remembered a book I had read when I was young.

"And he came to a place where the wild things are." We pulled apart and walked over to the crate. Popping the latches, I lifted the lid, and was greeted with the sight of almost three dozen vials of Antizin. We shared a look and opened up our packs. As we split them between us, I asked the biggest question on my mind.

"Rahim, what are we now?"

"Survivors."

"Not that, I mean us two. Together. What are we?" He paused and looked at me.

"A couple, if you want to be."

"Good." I leaned over and gave him a quick kiss. And we went pack to splitting the vials. As I zipped my bag up, the phone inside vibrated. Rahim gave me a look as I pulled it out and answered.

" _Ms. Rosier, we are going to have to ask you to destroy those vials of Antizin you just recovered."_ I was stunned. A government corporation dedicated to helping those in need, asking me to destroy the thing that would help those in need.

"I'm sorry what?"

" _We are going to need you to destroy the vials of Antizin. You must be forced into dealing with Rais, we have need to confirm his identity. We believe him to be Kadir-"_

"Who the fuck do you think you are to be ordering me around like that?" I could feel my anger rising, it was only the presence of Rahim that kept me from exploding. "How did you even know I had the vials? Is there a camera or something." She said something back to me but I was too busy examining the crate. Sure enough, right below the latch on the inside of the lid, was a small lens hooked up to a hidden antenna inside the lid. "Oh I see you now. Well, considering that you can see everything I'm doing, watch me do this." I turned towards the barrel behind me, set it alight, and chucked the phone in. Looking back at the crate, I flipped my middle fingers at the camera, and slammed the lid. It was now that I became aware of the sky. Black. Night time. Shit. I crouched low to Rahim's side.

"Uhh… R… Rahim. We need to go…"

"Yeah… I was kinda hoping you'd say that." He stood up slowly, careful not to make any noise. As we backed off, his foot kicked a rock. It skittered across the paving, striking a barrel behind us. We waited, when nothing happened, we thought we were in the clear.

Then a screech cut through the air. I could hear footsteps thudding closer. We turned and ran, but not before I saw one of the largest Volatiles I'd ever seen leap clear over a 15 foot high fence. We ducked through alleys, working our way back up the hill, towards the Tower. I could hear the Volatile thundering after us, never once giving up the chase. We scrambled up throw a building, climbing onto the roof. It was easier to get from A to B up high. The Volatile didn't even bother with climbing, choosing to jump straight up behind us. Rahim leaped over a wide alley in front of me. I jumped after him. My foot slipped on the edge, my head slamming into the tiles. I fell backwards, I saw the Volatile leap straight across. I crashed into something, and it all went black.

* * *

I woke as the morning was just breaking. Weak sunlight streamed through the hole in the cloth awning above, my backpack swung off a broken support. I brought a hand up to my head, wiping away sweat or blood. I wasn't sure which. I pushed myself up slowly, leaning on my elbows. I looked around at where I was. A small balcony, a few stories above the ground. Had I fallen any further… I shook my head, trying to clear away the fuzz and remember why had happened. I reached up and swiped my backpack off the pole, and searched through the contents. Pulling out several vials of Antizin, the previous night came rushing back to me. The Volatile chasing us, the evil government corporation, me kissing Rahim… My hands flew over my mouth in surprise. I'd kissed Rahim. How could I forget that? We were a couple. I smiled giddily at the thought. Picking myself up, I brushed myself down and started to make my way back to the Tower. The streets were quiet today, there were no Virals to be seen, no Biters to be heard. It was as peaceful as it could get. I scavenged what I could along the way. Several bottles of whiskey made their way into my pack. When I reached the Tower, I was exhausted. I barely had enough strength to pull myself up over the edge. This time, instead of a rifle, I was greeted by the sight of Rahim, pacing impatiently in front of the elevators. He glanced my direction, not really paying attention to who I was. I cleared my throat, making him stop.

"What is-" Whatever he was going to say died in his mouth. He raced forwards, picked me up and swung me around, laughing happily. When he put me down, we started at each other for a moment before we kissed. It was a heavy kiss, long and filled with joy.

"And just what are you doing to my little brother?" I jumped back with a yelp, staring fearfully at Jade.

"Uhh… Sorry?"


	4. Rahim

**Just a little one shot of the run from the drop from Rahim's perspective, starting straight after Ardelis falls. I'll probably do these little things from different character's perspectives every once in a while. They probably won't be very long, but at least they'll be different.**

* * *

I kept running, not looking back. Sunflower was strong, she could handle herself. I'd be surprised if she didn't get there before me. I could hear two sets of steps behind me. Heavy step from the Volatile, lighter ones from Sunflower. The entrance to the Tower was right in front of me, the blue glow welcoming. All but diving through the doors, I looked back at Sunflower. Only to see she wasn't there. Instead, there was the Volatile, and a night walker, standing just outside the reach of the lights.

No. She couldn't have. She was right behind me the whole way. I screamed in rage and kicked the door. The infected outside screeched at me, not moving any closer. I heard footsteps coming up behind me.

"Rahim?" It was Nadeau. "Where's Lis?" I had to tell him, he deserved that much.

"She… She's still out there." I yelled again and grabbed the rifle from Nadeau. I aimed it out the door and squeezed the trigger. _BangBangBangBangBang!_ Thirty rounds tore through the air, ripping into the infected. I held the trigger long after the magazine emptied. I collapsed to my knees. One word ran through my head.

 _Why?_

* * *

I refused to move past the first floor. I wanted to be the first one to see her when she got back. I needed to be the first. The elevator pinged.

"What the hell's going…" Jade stopped. She must have seen the look on my face. "Rahim… where's Ari?"

"I… I don't know. She was right behind me and then she wasn't, and I don't know what happened." I looked over at Jade, she was sitting on the ground. "We have to go and find her! She's still alive, I know it! Grab your stuff we can-"

"No." I stopped.

"What…"

"I said, no." She pushed herself up off the wall. "We'll look in the morning."

"We have to go now! If we wait that long she might-"

"Listen Rahim." She hissed. "Listen out there." She gestured to the window. Screams and cries filled the air. Virals, Night Walkers, Volatiles. All of them had gathered around. Because of my shooting.

"Fuck!" I slammed my hand into the wall. "Why? Why her?" This time it was my turn to sit down. I buried my head in my arms.

"I don't know. All we can do is wait. If she isn't back by tomorrow morning, we'll go and look for her." The thing was, if we went and looked for her, I was worried about what I would find.

* * *

 **There we go, first of the little one shots that I'll scatter about. I'm not sure how many I'll do, but I'll probably do one for every major character at some point. Next real chapter should be up by tomorrow anyway.**


	5. Chapter 3: Postcards and Psychopaths

**Bit of everything in this chapter. Action, sadness, fluff. It's all here. This one took a lot longer to get started, I just couldn't get into the flow of it. We do get our first look at the Rais of this world in this chapter, so there's something.**

 **I feel I should also point out the Rahim in this story is less of a prick to Jade than he is in canon.**

 **Still don't own Dying Light. Everyone should know this by now.**

* * *

" _And just what are you doing to my little brother?" I jumped back with a yelp, staring fearfully at Jade.  
"Uhh… Sorry?"_

* * *

At least, I tried to jump back. Rahim still had his arms wrapped around me. Jade just stood there for a moment, before breaking out into laughter. It wasn't happy laughter, it was relieved laughter. She rushed forwards and wrapped me in a hug as well, crushing me between her and Rahim.

"What the hell did I say about doing stupid shit on me?" She whispered into my hair. We stood like that for a while before Jade spoke again. "Okay Rahim, girl time. Get out before I make you." He almost ran from the room.

"Okay, see you later Jade, Sunflower." And left. I was about to speak when Jade held up a finger to silence me. Seconds later Rahim rushed back in, picked me up and kissed me again. I squeaked in surprise. "Okay, sorry, bye." Jade shook her head as he left again.

"I've be never seen him like that." She turned back to me. "Now, what did I say about not doing stupid shit?" I tried to make myself as small as I could.

"I know, but we were right there, and by the time we'd reached the drop and packed all the Antizin away it was night. Then we were running and my foot slipped and I landed on an awning and blacked out. I woke up, came straight back, and you know the rest."

"That's no excuse, my little brother was tearing himself up over you being out there. How do you think he would have handled you being dead?"

"I didn't think I was that important to him…" I whispered. Jade grabbed hold of the sides of my head, making me look directly at her.

"You have no idea, do you? While you were out there unconscious, Rahim was here going absolutely crazy, he wouldn't stop talking about how we should be going out to find you. I kept him back, I knew you wouldn't want him to die looking for you." I nodded my head. "Look, you need to understand, you aren't alone anymore. I know that it was just you and your sister for a long time, but I also know that until you were old enough to fend for yourself, Nadeau out there was looking out for you. And now… now you have me, Rahim, shit, even Brecken looks out for you occasionally. You need to start thinking about how your actions will affect others now, not just how they'll affect you." With that, she let go of my head, and walked out the door.

* * *

I walked into the planning room on the 19th floor. I'd gotten a call from Brecken telling me we had a meeting. We only met to discuss important missions. This time looked to be no different. Inside the room Jade, Rahim, Nadeau, and Brecken were already waiting. Brecken coughed and clapped his hands once.

"Now that we're all here, let's get started. First off, Nadeau. Grab two more men and head down to Zere's truck, tell three of the guys down there to head back up here. Jade, I need you to keep a watch for any more airdrops that might contain Antizin, we need all that we can get. Rahim, focus on training more runners, that's your main job. And finally, Ardelis. I'll need you to head over to Rais' compound-" That was met with sounds of disagreement from everyone else present. "If you would shut up, and let me finish. We need someone to go over there and strike up a pact with him. His patrols have been getting too close for comfort lately, and we need to ask him to back them off. Ardelis, because you know how to deal with people the best, I'm sending you. Don't fuck this up." He leaned back against the desk. "Well? Get to it!" The three of us left the room and went in our separate directions. I headed to my room to pack up supplies for the trip, it would take almost half the day to reach the compound. I shoved several sets of clothes, a few cans of food, a medkit, and my canteen into the bag. I reached over to the desk and opened the draw. Sitting in the middle was the handgun from Crane. I reached out, my hand hovering over the grip. Letting my hand drop, I picked it up and sat it in the holster around my shoulders. With everything ready, I slung my bag onto my back and walked out of my room. I saw Rahim waiting in front of the elevators, leaned casually against the wall. He looked up as I stopped in front of him. He pulled me into a hug, just holding me against him. It made me feel safe.

"Be careful Sunflower." His voice was barely a whisper.

"I will." I kissed him softly, and backed up into the elevator. As the doors closed, I almost missed the look of worry that crossed Rahim's face.

* * *

Rais' compound loomed in front of me, an old apartment block on the far side of the city. Yellow banner streaked with black hung from several balconies. Guards stood on scaffolding in pairs, rifles held in their arms. This was it. I took a breath, and walked forwards with my hands raised. One of the guards saw me and nudged the one next to him. By the time I reached the fence, six or so rifles were pointed my way.

"I'm here to talk with Rais!" I said loud enough to be heard. "No bullshit, just business!" The one in the middle, probably the leader, raised a hand held radio and spoke into it. After a moment he waved a hand at me.

"You got 15 minutes, then you get the fuck out!" I nodded my head and went to the gate. It slid open with a groan, admitting me into the garden out front. There was a group of bandits huddled around a burning barrel, all of them shooting me dirty looks. Walking into the small hallway, I could feel their eyes follow me the whole way. I was about to knock on the metal gate at the other end, when it slid open in front of me. Standing right there was Rais. His arms were open wide. Behind him stood two of his men, each holding another man in place, probably a survivor.

"Welcome Blondie! I hope my men outside weren't too rude. Come on in and have a seat, you're just in time for the show." He threw his hands over towards a stack of crates. I held my head high and sat down on the smallest one. My feet still couldn't touch the ground. Rais turned back to the survivor. "Now, I seem to remember you owe me something? What was it now? I think, yes, I think it was money." The man spat in Rais face. "That is no way to treat your hosts!" He brought a machete down onto his wrist, severing the hand. "Take him away. See that he doesn't die, he still has another hand." He turned back to where I was sitting. "Now then Blondie! What's a girl like you doing in a place like this?"

"I have a request. From Brecken." He rolled his eyes.

"What could that tower trash want from me?"

"He wants you to pull your men back from around the Tower." He perked up at this.

"My my, that is a request. Of course, I am by no means inclined to accept it, and in fact I probably won't. However, if you were to complete a few jobs for me… then, I might accept your request. Let's say, you do a job for me, and I'll pull my men back to this half of the slums. You get that side, we get this, everyone's happy!" He threw his arms wide. Half the city. It would make patrols safer, the new runners wouldn't have to be scared of getting shot.

"Okay, fine. What did you have in mind?"

"Ah, but I am a busy man, no time for menial tasks you see. Go talk to Karim inside, he'll give you something." And with that, he turned and walked away. Sighing, I stood up, and headed to a door on my left. Before I could get anywhere near the door, a two-handed sword cut in front of me. I followed the arm holding it and saw Tahir, Rais main bodyguard. He was at least four heads taller than me, and probably twice as strong, but there was no way he'd be able to even land a hit on me.

"Hold on for a second little girl, just gonna walk away without even looking at me?" He smiled lecherously. His breath reeked, and his teeth were rotten. I took a step back. "What's the matter?" By this time, a circle had gathered around us. "Come on, scared you couldn't handle me?" He reached out and grabbed my arm. I threw it off and spun on my heel, bringing my foot around. It smashed into the side of his head, catching him off guard. The force of the kick knocked him to the ground. I leaned over him and smirked.

"What's the matter? Couldn't handle me?" I used his own line against him. It drew chuckles from the men around me. I turned and started walking to the door again. I heard a yell of rage from behind me. I'd been expecting this. In one motion, I drew the handgun from its holster, and turned my waist, aiming it as I went. It rested against his neck, his arm was raised, sword ready to strike. The men around me looked on in shock, I doubt they'd even seen me draw.

"You wanna be the smart one here, or do I have to make the decision for you?" My voice was low, but filled with as much venom as I could muster. Tahir hesitated for a second, before placing the sword into the sheath on his back. He leaned down low to me.

"This isn't over Blondie." He growled.

"Good. I look forward to beating you again." And with that, he stalked away. I waited 'til he was out of sight before I put the handgun away.

* * *

"You want me to what?" I yelled, my voice echoed around the inside of the building. Karim sat in front of me, still typing at his computer as if nothing had happened.

"Climb to the top of an antenna and switch it back on. Shouldn't be too hard for someone like you." I stared at him incredulously. He looked up when I hadn't moved. "Well? Get going. It ain't fixing itself." He turned back to his computer. The conversation was over. I walked back through the hallways, ignoring the stares of the bandits. Word of my fight, if it could even be called that, with Tahir had already spread through the compound. Everyone steered clear of me, some of them not even looking my way. Walking back out to the front garden, my headset pinged. As I walked back through the gate, I pressed the return button.

"Talk to me."

" _Is that any way to greet me?"_ Nadeau. I'd been ignoring him for no good reason the past few days. Looking back, I had no idea why.

"Hey Nadeau. Sorry about not actually talking to you. At all really." He laughed, his deep voice booming over the headset.

" _It's all good Lis. You must have had your reasons."_ I winced. _"You'll still always be like a sister to me. So how did it go? I'm assuming that's why you didn't answer any calls before?"_

"Yeah, I've gotta say, the man's a fucking psycho. He cut off some guy's hand, then told his bitches to keep him alive so he could cut off the other one. Like, Jesus Christ, who even does that?"

" _A very sick man. At least they gave you a chance. Too many have gone there to reason, and have ended up dead."_ He paused for a second. _"They didn't… you know, force themselves?"_ I gagged at the thought.

"Fuck no. I mean, the big one, Tahir tried to."

" _And?"_

"I kicked him in the head, pointed a gun at him, insulted his mother. The usual." He laughed again.

" _Good to hear you haven't lost your touch with the fairer sex. Speaking of… I heard a rumour about you and Rahim. Care to elaborate."_ A biter stumbled out of a nearby shack, it zoned in on me straight away,

"Hold that thought for a second." I pulled out my machete and swung. I hit low and took off its right arm. It lunged, and I dodged back, swinging my weapon as I went. This time, I struck true, slicing through the neck with a wet squelch. The body stumbled forwards a few more steps before collapsing, unmoving at my feet. "Sorry about that, what was it you were saying?"

" _I was asking about those rumours between you and Rahim. How much truth is in those?"_

"Depends on what they say. If they say we just got together, then you're bang on. If they say we're dancing around each other with lots of tension, sexual of course, then they're right as well."

" _That's... actually exactly what they're saying. How did you know?"_

"Please, I'm a woman. We practically run on rumours." The radio tower loomed in front of me. "Anyway, gotta go. Rais' dirty work awaits."

" _Don't fall to your death. I'd hate to have to recover a Lis sized splatter."_

"How did you… Never mind. Talk later."

"Sure will." The channel died. I switched to the channel Karim used and called.

" _Karim."_ He was obviously not one for formalities.

"Hey, I've reached the tower, what now?"

" _Are there little flashing lights running up the side?"_ I waited a moment, trying to see. Sure enough, there was a trail of lights flashing up the side.

"Indeed there are."

" _Then half your job is already done. Now you just need to climb up to the access level and flip the transmitter switch. Call back when you're done."_ And the channel went silent. I jumped over the fence that surrounded the tower and utility buildings. Jogging across the gravel clearing, I reached the bottom of the tower. Looking for the ladder, I found it caged and locked. A quick strike with the handle of the machete saw the lock falling to the ground. Three times, the process was repeated. Climb, bash, climb, bash, climb, bash. At the top of the final ladder, I could feel the tower swaying slightly in the wind. Said wind whipped through my hair. I walked to the edge and spread my arms wide. I let out a whoop of joy, not even caring how the sound would carry. The wind blew my clothes, causing them the whip around. The zips on my bag jingled, my machete whistled. I stood like that for several minutes, not wanting to ruin the moment. It was shattered anyway by not so distant gunshots. I could see muzzle flashes at a petrol station nearby. Turning back to face the control box, I quickly realised I had no idea what to look for. I had the option between fuses, a series of lights and buttons, or a big lever that practically said 'flip me.' Going with my instincts, I reached out and grabbed the lever.

 _Here goes nothing._ I pushed it down. Almost immediately, the tower began to vibrate slightly. I dialled Karim again.

"So did it work?" There was a pause, as all I heard through the speaker was a keyboard tapping.

" _Perfectly, we could hear all the way out to the countryside if we needed to. I need you to check out a petrol station nearby, one of my patrols went missing around there about four minutes ago with some sensitive blueprints. Find out what happened to them and get those designs back."_ And once again, the channel died. All I had to do was find a way down.

* * *

I unsteadily climbed to my feet. Riding the support cable down like a zipline probably wasn't the smartest idea, but it was the fastest. I stumbled forwards, tripping over my own feet, and leaned against the concrete base. I caught my breath for a few minutes before the world stopped spinning, everything righting itself. I shook my head to further clear the fog and kept walking to the petrol station. Surprisingly, there were no infected around. The bodies of Rais' men were littered about underneath the roof cover, all of them riddled with bullet holes. Cautiously, I flipped them over one by one, and rifled through their pockets, trying to find the mysterious blueprints. As I walked towards the last bandit, the one closest to the building, a voice yelled at me.

"Hold it right there!" So I stopped. "I don't wanna shoot you, so if you came here for supplies, you can just fuck right off!"

"I didn't come here to steal your stuff. I just need a blueprint off one of these bodies, and then I'll be gone!" There was a pause.

"You got three minutes, then I shoot!" Moving as quickly as I could, I rolled the last bandit over, took the envelope from his pocket, and jogged away. As I ran down the street, past the supermarket, I heard a girl scream. Long and high pitched, followed by a roar. Without even thinking, I pulled my machete off my pack, and burst into the building.

* * *

 **Just want to take a moment to thank the people who have reviewed. I will be continuing this story through to completion. I won't just abandon it without any warning. Also, I haven't quite decided if I should split the parts into different stories, or keep them all in this one. I'm sure I'll work it out eventually.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading, hope to see you all for the next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 4: Clean-up In Aisle 9

**Hey, so this was meant to be up was earlier than it is, mainly 'cause we had power outages in my suburb, and only my suburb. Unfair, I know. Anyway, I had no idea what was going to happen when I started this chapter, so I hold no responsibility for any continuity errors, this thing is practically writing itself. There's a few major plot developments in this chapter, and a really sick fight scene. I'm not too good at those so if it's bad, I apologise. Onwards and upwards!**

 **Don't own Dying Light, still. One day though.**

* * *

 _As I ran down the street, past the supermarket, I heard a girl scream. Long and high pitched, followed by a roar. Without even thinking, I pulled my machete off my pack, and burst into the building._

* * *

The door swung inwards, the glass panes shattering as it struck the wall. The sound knocked me out of my trance. What the hell was I doing? Racing in to what could be a trap. Why? Because of a single scream. There hadn't been a sound since. And the timing of it all seemed a bit convenient. Slowing down, I crept forward, watching my feet. I walked through the aisles, all of them empty. I reached the last isle, number 13.

"Lucky me, again." There was a zombie at the end, slamming its fists against the window of a freezer. Even from where I was, I could see cracks appearing in the glass. I was about to run forwards and cut off its head, when I saw its foot. Shackled to a heavy chain. I doubted it could move very far. I pulled a knife from a satchel on my belt, and pulled my arm back. I let the blade fly, it whistled through the air, spinning end over end. It struck the zombie in the side of the head, embedding itself with a dull thud. That was when something crashed into my back, knocking me to the ground, causing me to slide down the aisle. Looking back up, I saw a group of 5 men. Four of them were average size, wielding an assortment of hammers and blades of different kinds. They didn't look like they would win any prizes.

 _Dull, Blunt, Brick, and Sleepy_. The last bandit was tall and heavily muscled, a large sword rested in his right hand. Tahir.

"Well, well, well. Look at who we found here. You know, I was testing you back at the garrison, trying to see what you were capable of. You think I'd lose so easily? Somehow, you caught be by surprise, I'll give you that. But now, I've had it with you, so I'll give you a chance. You leave now, never return and we let you live. The patrols stay the same, no one has to die. Well, at least no one important. You choose to stay, I think you can see how that would go." I stood up, and lowered myself into a fighting stance, one foot in front of the other, machete at shoulder level. "I see. Kill her." As one, the four other bandits rushed forwards. Dull reached me first swinging a sickle wide and fast, I blocked with my own blade, sending up a shower of sparks. His arm reeled back, stunning him. I spun, reaching for the long knife on the side of my thigh, and sliced straight across his throat, splattering blood across my face.

 _One down._ Brick was next, hammer coming down towards my head. I grabbed his wrist moments away from impact, and rolled him over my shoulder. I stabbed down with my machete, blood sprayed over my legs.

 _Two down._ Blunt and Sleepy attacked as one, a hatchet and a crowbar sailed towards me, both from different angles. I rolled forwards under their attacks, my blades plunged deep into their stomachs, covering my chest with even more blood. I stood up as they fell to the ground, and chucked my pack down the aisle behind me. I was an imposing sight. Covered in blood, machete and knife painted red. My eyes were hard, determined. There was no way I'd lose. Tahir sighed.

"If you want something done," he said, as he lumbered towards me. "You just have to do it yourself."

* * *

I jumped back as his sword came at me, almost before I could react, skimming across my arm, tearing the shirt. This wasn't the slow, predictable bandit I'd almost shot that morning. This was a warrior, a soldier with only one mission. To kill me. He kicked at my shins, I jumped over and kicked off his chest sending me back down the aisle. He stumbled a step, but recovered too quickly, and was already rushing forwards as I rolled to my feet. A fist slammed into the side of my face, sending me sideways into the shelves. I dodged away as his sword came down at me. I kicked at his knee, hoping to knock him down, but he must have seen it coming. He backed off at the last second, my foot continued, taking me off balance. His knee rocketed up into my chest, knocking the air from me. I collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. I felt a foot press into my back, and felt steel against my neck. I elbowed his leg several times, trying to dislodge it. Nothing was working. I felt the sword disappear from my neck, knowing it would be back soon. As a last resort, I swung the knife behind me, and was rewarded with a roar of pain. The handle slipped from my fingers, and I rolled from the path of the sword, still travelling downwards. It embedded into the tiles, sticking. Tahir was struggling to free it. I stood and saw the knife stuck into his knee. I ran forward, swinging at his right arm with all my strength, hoping to limit his ability to fight. Before my machete could make contact, his left arm came up in front of his right. By then, it was too late to stop the swing. The blade sliced through his arm, taking it off just above the elbow. He bellowed in rage and heaved his remaining arm with a mighty heave. The sword flew free of the ground. I couldn't dodge back. The end of the sword cut straight up my chest, an inch deep. It sliced up my neck and face. I felt it cut straight through my eye, and it continued up my forehead. I screamed. It was loud and raw, sounding more like a Viral than a human. With a hand still over my eye, I pulled out the handgun and fired. The shot echoed through the building, the bullet pinged off something metal, and I heard footsteps running away before I could feel nothing.

* * *

I woke screaming, my face, neck, and chest felt like they were on fire. The wound probably felt worse than it was. I felt soothing hands stroke my hair and face, being careful to stay away from the injury. I couldn't remember a thing through the pain, there was no memory of how I got the injury or where I was. All I knew was pain. I felt something get injected into my arm, and a few minutes later, the pain lessened to a bearable level. Seconds later, I was asleep.

* * *

 **I know, it's short. I just got stuck on how to keep going with this train. The next chapter will be longer, and the real plot changes happen next time. Thanks for reading, adieu!**


	7. Chapter 5: Peace for Those Gone

**Semi-important AN at the end of this chapter, so read that if you want an idea of where this story is now going. I know the last chapter was a bit underwhelming, but this one will heat things up a bit. This chapter really didn't want to be written but I made it there in the end. Took a bloody long time though. I do try and write as often as I can, but it really isn't as much as I could be. Anyway, just a little monologue before the chapter starts. Enjoy!**

 **Don't own Dying Light. Even though I can dream. The song in the first scene is** '' ** _Wanderer's Lullaby"_** **by Adriana Figueroa (adrisaurus on YouTube) and I have no intentions of passing it off as my own.**

* * *

 _I couldn't remember a thing through the pain, there was no memory of how I got the injury or where I was. All I knew was pain. I felt something get injected into my arm, and a few minutes later, the pain lessened to a bearable level. Seconds later, I was asleep._

* * *

When I woke next, the pain was still there, but now just a dull throb in the background. Nothing like the pure fire it had been. I groggily opened my eyes, only to find that I could only see out of one. Bringing up a hand, I expected to find something holding it shut. What I didn't expect to find, was a line of scar tissue, running up the length of my face, and straight over my eye. The supermarket flashed back to me.

 _I spun, reaching for the long knife on the side of my thigh, and sliced straight across his throat, splattering blood across my face._

 _I grabbed his wrist moments away from impact, and rolled him over my shoulder. I stabbed down with my machete, blood sprayed over my legs._

 _I rolled forwards under their attacks, my blades plunged deep into their stomachs, covering my chest with even more blood._

 _The end of the sword cut straight up my chest, an inch deep. It sliced up my neck and face. I felt it cut straight through my eye, and it continued up my forehead._

I sighed and ran a finger along the scar. The gash was at least half an inch deep, and ran all the way from my hairline, right down to the top of my breast. My hand drifted back to my eye, feeling the ridges of the wound. I looked around, I was in the hospital back in the Tower. Half a city from where I was attacked. How did I get back here? And how long was I out for? I sat up slowly, and looked around for an answer to both questions. I was the only person in the wing, Lena wasn't even in the room. There was a calendar hanging in the wall just to my left.

September 16th. Four weeks. I'd been unconscious for a month. So much could have changed since then, so many more people could have been infected. The door opened and Lena walked in, notebook held in her arms. She was obviously not expecting me to be awake because she faltered a step when she saw me looking at her.

"Holy shit A, you shouldn't even be fucking alive right now. That sword cut so close to you heart you couldn't even measure it." She buzzed around, gathering every piece of medical equipment she could find. "You're lucky Valerija brought you back. Gods know what would have happened if she didn't." The name caused me to pause.

"I'm sorry, what did you say her name was?"

"Valerija. You know her?"

"She…" I hadn't heard that name in years. "I thought she was..." There was no way it could be her. "She's my sister." Lena stared at me in disbelief.

"Your… your sister? I thought she..."

"I had two. You know what happened to… to Ilyana." Lena nodded slowly. "A few years before the virus, Val went missing, she just ran away. No note, nothing. She left everything behind. Il and I looked for her for weeks. We found nothing. I'd given up hope. I thought… I thought she was dead! And then this happens? Fuck!" I dropped back onto the pillow. "When did she leave?" Lena raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, when did she leave?"

"She's still here. She should be up on the roof. It's where she spends all her time now." I started to get up, but Lena shoved me back down. "No you don't, you need to rest. Stay, I'll go and get her." And with that she left. I heard the door lock behind her.

I couldn't believe, in any way, that the girl who saved me was my sister. She had been gone for years, no trace she ever existed. I sighed heavily, how did my life get to this point? The lock on the door clicked. Lena walked in, followed by a girl. The hood on her jumper was up, obscuring her face, but I could clearly see the golden hair beneath. It was too much of a coincidence.

"Here she is A, I'll leave you too alone." It was just me and her. I was silent, I had no idea what to say.

"Thank you." I finally whispered. She nodded her head but didn't say anything. Finally, she broke her silence.

"Why?" I cocked my head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"Why do you look so much like her? Your eyes, the same green. Hair the same blonde. You even sound the same. Why do you have to remind me of her in every way?"

"What... what are you talking about?" She was silent again for a long time.

"My mother. Why do you have to look like her? Why do you have to remind me that I couldn't save her? Every time I look at you, I see her there, smiling. Why? It's not fair." She let out a choked sob. "Why did she have to be taken from us? I should have been there, I should have known." Her eyes snapped up, a hateful glare on them. "But you! You were there, you could have helped her! Why? Why was it you?" She collapsed onto the bed, crying heavily. I stroked her hair softly, and sang.

 _"Wandering child of the earth,  
Do you know just how much you're worth?  
You have walked this path since your birth,  
You were destined for more._

 _There are those who'll tell you you're wrong,  
They will try to silence your song,  
But right here is where you belong,  
So don't search anymore._

 _You are the dawn of a new day that's waking,  
a masterpiece still in the making,  
and the blue in an ocean of grey._

 _You are right where you need to be,  
poised to inspire and to succeed,  
you'll look back and you'll realize one day._

 _In your eyes there is doubt,  
as you try to figure it out,  
but that's not what life is about,  
so have faith there's a way._

 _Though the world may try to define you,  
it can't take the light that's inside you.  
So don't you dare try to hide,  
Let your fears fade away?_

 _You are the dawn of a new day that's waking,  
a masterpiece still in the making,  
and the blue in an ocean of grey._

 _You are right where you need to be,  
poised to inspire and to succeed,  
you'll look back and you'll realize one day._

 _You are the dawn of a new day that's waking,  
a masterpiece still in the making,  
and the blue in an ocean of grey._

 _You are right where you need to be,  
poised to inspire and to succeed,  
Soon you'll finally find your own way."_

By the time I had finished, she was well and truly asleep. My mind was reeling from everything that had happened. Losing my eye, finding my sister. It was too much. I drifted off, my mind full of questions.

* * *

It had been two months since my sister came back, two months of getting to know each other again. So much had happened in the years we'd been apart. She told me how Rais' men captured her, how Tahir used her. She swore to kill him when she saw him next. It had been just as hard telling her what happened to Ilyana, as it was telling Rahim. Eventually, we were acting as if she had never run away. We went of short missions together, running supplies between Zere's trailer and the Tower. We got caught out after dark once and ended up getting chased by two Volatiles. We laughed about the rush for days afterwards.

The scar over my eye was healed, it was nothing more than a long, pale line. Running with one eye was as easy as it sounds. It had taken most of the two months to even get used to walking. After almost breaking my legs more times than I could count, I finally got the hang of it, running and climbing with the same ease that I did before.

Rahim and I got closer. We took any chance we could to go back to our rooftop, just sitting next each other's company. We held competitions, who could run to here faster, who could find the shortest route. The rooftop, that we dubbed _The Nest,_ became the host of many late nights. The UV lamps we set up keeping us safe. It was our spot. At the end of November, my score in Go Fish was 28 games. Rahim's was 60. Everything was good.

Then the day came when everything went downhill.

While I was recovering, Brecken had run a mission to the school, apparently Rais had been stockpiling supplies. He came back a day later with a pack full of C4. I'd seen the glint in Rahim's eyes, he was planning something. And I knew from experience that I wouldn't like it. I confronted him about it while we were in The Nest.

"What are you planning to do with those explosives?" He quirked an eyebrow at me.

"What are you talking about?" I put my hands on my hips and glared at him, waiting for him to crack. "Okay, okay. I'm going to take out the nest soon. I know it sounds stupid, but I have to do this, for me, and for my father. He was the one who discovered the nest, and no one even knows it was him." I kept my pose for a few more moments before sighing. I walked overs do sat down in his lap.

"Fine, but you have to take me with you."

"Deal." We sat and watched the sun set together.

* * *

I sat in The Nest at midnight, the lamps humming behind me. My sketchbook was propped open on a cinder block. I was halfway through a sketch of Valerija, myself, and Rahim. We were smiling, our arms around each other's shoulders. My headset pinged and I set my pencil down.

"Talk to me."

"Sunflower, it's Rahim. I'm uh… on the overpass and I need your help." My heart stopped. "I went with Omar to blow the Volatile nest but things have gone wrong. I know you said that you had to come, but I just didn't want to see you hurt."

"Fuck Rahim, hide in the train yard, building 4, wait until daytime! Why would you do something so stupid?!"

"I know, I shouldn't have- Omar look out!"

"Rahim! Rahim! Fuck!" I jumped to my feet and ran. I dialled Val.

" _Do you have any idea how late it is?"_

"Rahim's in danger." I cut her off before she could continue. "Just… just meet me in the lobby of the Tower." I cut the channel before she could argue. I ran through the narrow streets, dodging around Biters and Virals. I could hear the screeches behind me. Not once did I slow down. It was only when I was in the lobby that I stopped running. Valerija was pacing in the centre of the room. She looked up when I cleared my throat.

"Now what the hell do you mean Rahim's in trouble?"

"He went to blow up the Volatiles." Val swore. "He got into trouble on the overpass and we need to help him. I told him to hide in the train yard but I don't know." She paled.

"Shit, shit, shit!" She ran her hands through her hair. "Okay, okay, it's fine. You told him to hide?" I nodded. "Good, that's good. He listens to you, but we need to go, there's no point in wasting time." We ran towards the highway.

* * *

Silence. That was the first thing I noticed when we got to the bridge. It was too quiet. The crackle of fire the only sound. Bodies littered the road. There was a sinking feeling that one of them was Rahim. We moved around, looking over every body. Omar was dead, his chest torn open, ribs shattered. None of the other bodies looked like Rahim. I let out a breath.

"He's not here. Maybe he's down in the train yard, that's where you told him to go."

"He… he should be in number 4. That's where I said." She put a hand on my shoulder.

"That's where we'll look first, come on." We dropped down off the highway, rolling with the impact. We ran into the train yard, the silence oppressive. It made me uneasy. It was the middle of the night, there should have been infected everywhere. There wasn't a thing. We moved forward more cautious than before.

* * *

Storage 4 loomed, dark and imposing. If Rahim was alive, he was in there. Val and I stopped at the door, sounds of the infected echoed from inside. She pulled her hatchet from her hip.

"Ready?" I pulled my knife from my thigh.

"Ready." I opened the door slowly, the moans grew louder. I crept forward, staying in the shadows. Val shut the door behind us, sealing the building from the outside world. The infected had gathered around one of the cars, and were insistently trying to get inside. My mind went to one conclusion immediately. Rahim. Looking back at Val, I motioned with my knife towards the zombies. She nodded and we moved towards them. The first one went down to my knife through its temple. The second caught my sister's hatchet in its skull. One by one, the infected fell. None the wiser to what had happened. As the last one dropped to the ground, the silence came back, the only sound breathing from inside the carriage. Steeling myself, I grabbed the handle, and wrenched the door open.

"Stay back! Oh shit, it's just you two." Rahim was sat, leaning against the opposite side, a gun held in his hands.

"Rahim!" I pulled myself into the carriage and flew into his arms. "I thought I'd lost you." His chest shifted as he laughed.

"It'll take more than a few biters to keep me down." He glanced over my shoulder. "It's good to see you too Val." She nodded her head at him. I looked up at him, his face was pale, sweat beaded on his face.

"Are you okay?"

"Hm, yeah. I'm okay, just need to rest. Sunflower, you need to finish this for me." He put a bag in my arms. I looked up at him, begging for him to make me stay. "Go, do it. You too Val." She shook her head.

"I'll stay here, keep you company. God knows you need it." He looked ready to argue, but the look on Valerija face said that there was no way she was changing her mind. He turned his head back to me.

"There's a pipe in the back of here, u saw it when I was hiding. It should lead straight to the nest." I moved to get up, but he just pulled me straight back down. "I love you Sunflower, you know that right?"

"Of course I do. Rahim, are you sure you're alright?" I didn't believe him.

"Yeah, I'm sure. Now go, don't disappoint me." With that, he pushed me from the carriage. Val gave me a sad look as she shut the door. I walked around the back of the building to the pipe. Why did they both act like that?

* * *

The ground shook as the building crumbled to the earth. The nest was destroyed, there was nowhere for the Volatiles to breed now. Running back through the sewer pipes, I was almost bursting with joy. Rahim was okay, that was the most important thing. As I climbed the ladder up into the storage, the sound of sobbing filled my ears. Rounding the carriage, Val was sat in front of the doors. Something on the inside was trying to get out. She looked up at me, her eyes red from tears. She stumbled to her feet and fell into my arms. The worst was already at the front of my mind.

"Val, where… where's Rahim?" I already knew the answer, I just didn't want it to be right. My heart shattered when she pointed to the carriage.

"No." I couldn't believe it. "No, but… but he was fine. He couldn't… he couldn't have turned. He wasn't bitten." Val shook her head.

"On his leg. I'm… I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." I collapsed to the ground, dragging Val with me. "He said that… he said that he wanted you to be the one." My heart broke even more. I couldn't. I loved him, I couldn't kill him. There was a part of my brain, the section I usually listened to, that said he was already gone. This time, I chose not to listen to it.

"I… I can't. I can't do it."

"You have to, it's what he wanted. I'll go outside." She picked herself up and walked over to the door, shooting me a sad look as she left. I don't know how long I sat there. How long it took for me to open the carriage, to give Rahim peace. I only know that by the time I left the building, I was no longer the same person as before.

* * *

 **Son of a bitch it's done. This took me so damn long to get out I contemplated giving up a few times. But I'm committed to this now, to stop would be unfair to everyone who reads this, no matter how small that number may be. Anyway, I'll try and get the next chapter out soon after this one, but no promises. I'll still try to get it out in a reasonable time.**

 **Also, it's going to be a little bit shorter than I last thought. Somewhere around 40-50 thousand words instead of the 100k+ I originally said. I always over shoot how much I can write of a story, it's a fatal flaw of mine. I'll try to put some more words in where I can. I might have Ardelis do some side missions or something. I can say however, that I will be doing The Following expansion. It was too good to pass up.**

 **Thank you everyone for reading, see you next time, adieu!**


	8. Valerija

**Another one shot from Valerija's perspective. This one starts just after she closes the carriage door, and Ardelis goes to blow up the nest. I'll try and make up the horrible pacing from the last chapter with this one. Enjoy!**

 **Don't own Dying Light still. The $4 500 to my name just wasn't enough.**

* * *

I pulled the door shut and turned to face Rahim.

"Why would you not tell her? She deserves to know." He looked up at me, guilt spread across his face.

"I just couldn't." He drops his head into his hands. "Could you do it? Tell someone that the next time they see you, you won't even recognise them, that you're going to try and hurt them. It's better this way. This way she won't hurt as much." I slid down against the opposite wall.

"You really love her, don't you?" He nodded slowly. "She's needed someone like you the past few months. She pretends to be strong, like nothing can hurt her or keep her down." I sighed and ran a hand through my hair. "The truth is... she's hurting a hell of a lot. I can see it in her eyes every time I look at her, and it kills me. It kills me to know that she's slowly wasting away and there's nothing I can do to help her. She doesn't even realise it herself, she just keeps soldiering on. You've helped her to realise that she doesn't have to hurt as much, that there's still light in times like this. You've brought out the old her again, and she loves you for it. This is going to destroy her, I don't know if I'll be able to help her after this, but I can sure as hell try." I looked up at Rahim again, and saw tears trailing down his face.

"You're right, she... she might not ever come back from this, but I have something that might help." He pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to me. "Give this to her when you think she's ready. I know it's not much but it's the best I could do." He coughed heavily, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. It came away bloody. "Listen Val, I don't have much time left, but I want her to know that I'll always be with her, so please, give her that as soon as you can, and when the time comes, please make sure that she does it. Promise me you'll make sure it's her. A last goodbye." He coughed again and looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "You should get out of here now, I don't want to hurt you either." I stood up slowly, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You're a good man Rahim. May we meet on the other side." I gave him one last hug, climbed out of the carriage, and shut the door. I sat down, ignoring the screams and banging from behind me.

"Let me out! Let me..." His words were cut off by a screech. The last traces of the person that was Rahim disappeared with that sound. A sob escaped me, and I dissolved into tears, careful not to ruin the letter still clutched in my hands. I heard someone coming up the ladder being the carriage. Ardelis. I hurriedly tucked the letter away, and cried even harder.

If I was taking it like this, how would she?


	9. Interlude: Closure

**Just a little thing before the next chapter goes up. It's probably going to be up sometime in the next few days hopefully. This should tide everyone over until then.**

 **Dying Light is owned by Techland, I'm sure you all know that by now.**

* * *

My headset beeped. In almost a trance, I pressed the button.

 _"Hey Ari."_ Jade. Shit. How was I going to tell her this?

"Hey Jade." I replied wearily. "What's up?"

 _"You haven't seen Rahim have you?"_ I winced. I'd hoped to make it back to the Tower before this happened. _"He hasn't been answering me, and the only time he does that is when he's with you. You got him out there at the Nest?"_

"No," I snapped, a little too harshly. I could almost see Jade wincing away from the radio. I sighed and sat down next to Val. "Sorry. We aren't at the Nest. Not that one, at least. Look it's been a rough night, can we just do this when I get back? I don't want to do it over the radio." It slipped out before I could stop it. Val winced beside me, she could see this coming, and probably thought I deserved it.

In all honesty, I probably did.

 _"What do you mean, 'don't want to do it over radio?' What happened?"_ Silence. _"You didn't? Fuck! Where is he? I'm gonna kill him."_ I stayed quiet. I didn't trust myself to say it. _"He's… he's dead, isn't he?"_

"I'm sorry." It was all I could choke out, before tears started to fall again. I could hear things being thrown around in my ear. I ignored it as the reality of what I had just done hit me like a Demolisher.

I'd killed Rahim. All those afternoons, sitting on the roof, watching the sunset. Watching as the last rays cut between the far off cityscape, embers dancing in the air.

Our first kiss. Lit by a single flashlight, bouncing off the mirror behind us, cards scattered on the concrete.

Every night after that. Talking, sitting, doing nothing important.

All that was gone. It felt like a shard of ice through my chest. But in the middle of that shard, was a spark.

 _He lied to you._ The spark hissed. He did. He lied about being bitten. Why would he do that to me? We held no secrets from each other. So why would he not tell me this? I could have helped him.

 _I still can._ Pushing myself away from Val, I walked back into the terminal, over to the car that held Rahim. I pulled back the door.

He looked so undignified, motionless in the middle of the car. I sat him up against the wall carefully, it was the least I could do. After everything he'd done for me. It seemed wrong to leave him here. But I had to. Reaching into the top pocket of his pants, I pulled out a folded photograph. I unfolded it.

I sat, smiling at the camera. Jade sat to the left of me, Nadeau to the right. Rahim stood behind me, an arm around my shoulders. We were happy. It was the only photo of all of us together. I heard Val step up into the car behind me.

"So what do we do now?" She asked the question that had been on my mind since… since I had to kill Rahim.

"We leave. I can't go back there, not after this. There has to be somewhere we can go."

"There is. Follow me." And with that, we turned and left.

* * *

On a cliff, far to the east of the city, a small wooden cross stuck from the ground. It was nothing fancy, he wouldn't have wanted that. He was always down to earth, an extravagant display was just not him.

A bundle of flowers was tied to the base, the petals ruffled softly in the wind. A single, plastic photo was nailed to the middle.

Four people smiled happily. As if nothing could ever go wrong.

Tears ran from my eye. A smile sat on my face, much like the one in the photo.

At least for Rahim, he would always be happy now.


	10. Chapter 6: After a While

**So, several weeks into writing this, I realised that how many reviews/follows/favourites you have is how high up on the chain your story gets, plus it also provides feedback on how to keep going with it. And as stupid as I am, I had no idea this was the case. 10 points to me.**

 **Also, I'm just going to upload chapters when I feel like it's a good spot to end.** **I'll try to upload as often as I can, but there won't be any set time through the week that I'll upload. So there's that.**

 **Also also, I've had a bit of a writing slump these past few weeks, so I took a couple of days off writing. Sorry about the delay between chapters for this one.**

 **So, onto the newest chapter.**

 **I still don't own Dying Light. I doubt I ever will.**

* * *

 _I don't know how long I sat there. How long it took for me to open the carriage, to give Rahim peace. I only know that by the time I left the building, I was no longer the same person as before._

The group of six moved slowly through the street below me. Their weapons slung lazily in their hands. They didn't expect anyone to want to attack them.

But then again, anyone wasn't us.

I shifted my gaze to the rooftop opposite me. My sister sat there, rifle held in her hands. It was always unloaded, we could never find any ammo, but no one ever knew that. I nodded once.

Show time.

Valerija climbed down the other side of the building she was on. She would run ahead and cut them off, threaten them with the rifle a bit.  
 _  
Step one._

I dropped down silently, and crouched behind a crate. It was only two stories and the dirt was soft from the rains last night. I saw Val step out, rifle raised. All of them stopped, holding their hands in the air.

 _Step two._

"So," it was a new routine every time. I wondered what it would be now. "We need your stuff. Food, water, etcetera. We know you have it, so are we gonna do this the easy way, or the hard way?" The group all looked at each other, and slowly readied their weapons as one. Val smirked coldly.

 _Step three._

"I hoped that was your answer," and she threw the rifle at one of them. Caught off guard, he stumbled under the weight, and regained his footing as a knife slit his throat. The rest of the group, shocked from their stupor by the spray of blood, charged. They always underestimated us.  
Val met the front runner head on, her axe clashing with his sabre in a shower of sparks. The others in the group were advancing quickly.

I swung out from behind the crate, pulling my knife from my thigh. The man at the rear never knew what happened as I jabbed the knife into the base of his skull. The next went down in the same fashion, lifelessly falling to the ground. They landed within seconds of each other, soft thuds echoed through the street. The final man, armed with a heavy, two - handed axe, spun quickly, swinging wide. I ducked under the swing, and lashed out with my knife. It dug into the side of his knee. He let out a scream and fell, landing hard on his side.

"Wait wait wait!" He held up his hands in surrender. He was breathing hard, blood flowed freely from his leg. He would never walk again. But I wasn't one to tell him that. "Don't… don't kill me! Please!"

"And why should we not?" Valerija crouched down next to his head, her clothes spattered with blood. "I mean, you tried to kill us just then."

"I'm just trying to get by, please! Rais will kill me if I go back without it." That peaked my interest.

"Go back without what?" He turned his head to look at me.

"Military supplies, on the other side of the Infamy Bridge! Medical supplies, weapons everything! Please, just let me live." Val and I looked at each other, debating what to do. Finally, she nodded.

"Okay." We stood up and walked away.

"Wait! You're just going to leave me here?" I stopped walking, but didn't turn around.

"We didn't say we'd help you." And we left. The sounds of his screams drowned out by the screeches of infected.

* * *

Our safe-house was a silent, three-story building in the centre of the slums. UV lights ran up the side, creating a 15 metre safe-zone in every direction around the building.

It used to be a pharmacy, and so it was one of the first places picked clean after the virus took hold.

Sometimes, the building seemed empty, just Val and I. We found things to occupy our time.

Val flopped down onto the lone couch we had, sitting her pack beside her. A cool, evening breeze washed through the house, the curtains waved slightly, the lights overhead flickered. Home.

For now, at least.

"So what did we get today?" I asked. Val ran a hand through her hair and tied it back, before opening the bag we carried supplies with.

"Uhh… enough water for a week, some supplies for the workshop, and enough food for three days? That doesn't seem right."

"Show me." She pulled everything out of her pack, and sat it on the floor in front of her.

Seven cans of food, four litres of water, several rolls of duct tape, a box of nails and metal scrap, and the weapons we took. This was nowhere near enough from a raid.

"Where's the rest? There should be almost five times this much stuff." Her tone was angry, and rightly so. I thought back to the one we left alive.

"They said they were going to Infamy Bridge, maybe that's why they had so little on them? They needed to carry stuff back." She shook her head.

"Too dangerous. There's only two of us, and there was six of them. If Rais thought that a group of six was the smallest number, how are we going to do it? The bridge is overrun, we'd never get six feet! It's suicidal! Come on A, think!"

"I am thinking! Fuck Val, they have medicine over there, military gear!" I started pacing around the room. "Sometimes you've just got to take a risk." She sighed heavily.

"Fine. Fine! We'll go. But if we die I'm blaming you." I snorted unabashedly.

"If we die, you won't be blaming anyone."

* * *

The wind whistled across the bridge, an eerie silence had descended. Corpses of the infected littered the road behind us, having had to literally carve our way through.

We stood at the base of a support, craning our necks to catch a glimpse of the top. The bridge further along having been separated in the first days of the outbreak.

"That's a hell of a long way up." Val said, a hint of disgust in her voice. I turned to her and smiled sweetly.

"Don't worry, going up's the hard part." She looked at me witheringly, and then back up to the supports. "Besides, we only have to do it once."

"I knew you'd say that." She answered dryly. I climbed up on top of a police van, and jumped to grab onto a ledge.

"Come on, it's not going to be that bad." She sighed before jumping up as well.

"I wish we had a grappling hook."

* * *

We sprawled out on a scaffold at the top. The climb was a lot longer than I expected, and the sun had long since set. The small safe zone inside one of the pillars was a welcome sight. It took all my willpower not to collapse into the sleeping bag, first chance I got.

We'd have to wait until morning to cross the bridge, doing it at night was too dangerous, Volatiles lurked in every shadow.

"Hey," Valerija's voice cut through the emptiness. I rolled over, Val was staring up at the sky. "How're you holding up?" I knew what she was talking about. I wanted to say that I was fine, that I'd accepted what had happened.

But I couldn't lie to her.

"Not… Not very well. I should be fine now, it's been three months, but it still hurts." Tears swam in my eye, and I wiped them away hurriedly. "It hurts all the time, and I'm worried it will never stop. How am I going to go on like this?" I let myself be pulled into a hug. "I keep waiting for him to call, to tell me that he's fine, and that he's waiting at the Nest. A part of me knows that's never going to happen, but I can't help but wish." I sighed shakily. "We haven't been to the Tower in months, we haven't had any contact with them, they probably think we're dead, or turned, or something. Brecken's probably jumping for joy that I'm gone, Jade probably hates me, and I don't blame her if she does. And Nadeau, I haven't seen him since before… before we left. He's probably going out of his mind and I haven't even thought about him. What sort of person am I? How could I just forget about friends like that?" I felt arms wrap around me.

"You wanna know?" She grabbed my chin and turned my head to face her. "You're the kind of person who will drop everything to help someone in need. The kind who wouldn't even think twice before jumping in to save someone's life. It almost gets you killed every time," She gestured to my one remaining eye. "But as long as the other person's safe, you don't care what happens to yourself. That's the kind of person you are, and it's the best kind you can be." We stayed out under the stars, only moving back inside once the moon was well over half way across the sky.

* * *

We sat back in our main safe-house, scrapes, cuts, and bruises marred our skin. The military checkpoint on the other side of the bridge was overrun and empty, anything valuable had long been scavenged.

It was a waste of time, and we almost died. Caught out at night time again, we had little choice but to run to the small fishing village under the bridge.

As we had run into the gate, a brave Volatile had leapt onto my back, sizzling in the UV lamps. My vision had blurred as the wind was knocked out of me. As I gasped for breath, I heard it screech, before there were two concussive blasts from in front of me, and the weight was lifted.

A smoking shotgun was in Valerija's hands, and the remains of the Volatile twitching on the ground. She always said I had a knack for trouble.

A groan pulled me out of my memories, Val was stretched out on the couch, arms thrown lazily over the side. She looked deep in thought. I shook my head, and took a bite out of a baklava, the pastry had long gone stale.

"We need to go back to the Tower." I choked on the sweet and stared at her incredulously.

"What?" I was too shocked to say anything else.

"It's the only way we're going to survive. We're running out of food and water, our weapons are almost completely rust, I'm going insane not being able to talk to anyone. You need to face your fears or your demons or whatever. We just need to go back, please."

I didn't want to believe that everything she had just said was true. But I knew that it was. We had to go back to the Tower. I had to admit that I missed talking to people. I missed seeing people. But I couldn't face Jade, not after what happened. I was afraid of how she'd react. I never said so much as a goodbye, to anyone really. I wouldn't be surprised if they'd forgotten about me. They probably wouldn't even recognise me if they did. I sighed, resigning myself.

"Fine, but we go in disguise, or at least I do. I can't handle with… well… you know. I just want to get there and have some time to settle in, please?" I wasn't above begging to get what I wanted. A look of, something, passed over Val face before she smiled slightly.

"Whatever you want sis. Catch." She threw one of Rais' men's masks at me. The paint had been stripped off, leaving it an obnoxious shade of white. I looked up at her oddly, and she shrugged. "Call it a hunch. Go pack, we'll leave when everything's set."

Everything was about to get a whole lot more difficult.

* * *

 **I know, a bit underwhelming once again, but once more, stuff will get exciting next time. I have a bad habit of having an on/off style of writing. I really need to work on it.**

 **Anyway, thank for sticking with the story this far if you have, remember to leave me some feedback on what to do or improve or something.**


	11. Chapter 7: Just Holding On

**Hey everyone. I've got a surprise for you. A full length chapter from another point of view that actually continues the story. I've got the ending for this part all planned out for about 5 chapters from now. So getting close to the end, things have started heating up significantly. A bit dialogue light in this chapter, but I wanted to see how it went, and I've gotta say I think it turned out pretty well.**

 **And please leave a review on the chapter so I know how I'm going. Writers live off feedback, and I'm not excepting. And so far, the only feedback I've had has been from family.**

 **Anyway, enough about that. Let's get into the next chapter.**

 **Do I really still need to say I don't own Dying Light?**

* * *

 _"Call it a hunch. Go pack, we'll leave when everything's set."_

 _Everything was about to get a whole lot more difficult._

* * *

 **Valerija**

* * *

I brushed my hair out of my eye. The deep orange curls hung lifelessly in clumped strands. Sweat beaded on my forehead as I picked up the seventh pallet of wood that day. When Ari and I had arrived at the Tower a week and a half ago, no one had recognised her, just patted me on the back for returning and sent both of us off on errands. She was gone all day, running supplies from one place to another, clearing out homes, gathering equipment for the Quartermaster.

Meanwhile, I was stuck on guard duty, or being an errand boy. Sitting in the small plastic chair on the ledge by the entrance. Sometimes I went out, but even then, it was just between here and Zere's trailer. It was like they'd lost their trust in me. As if being away for a time was enough to make me join Rais. I snorted derisively at the thought. Like I'd ever join him. Today, I was stuck reinforcing the barricade between the 18th and 19th floors.

No one had asked why I returned alone without Ari. They just accepted an extra pair of hands and set is to work. If they even so much as asked where she was, I didn't think I'd find myself able to lie about it. So I kept quiet, and so did everyone else.

There was a breakout the day after we arrived. The airdrops had stopped a fortnight ago, it didn't take a genius to work out that something was happening outside the walls. It took even less of a genius to realise it was a very big problem. When we'd arrived, there were 15 people infected. Now there were only 5 left. Granted, the Antizin seemed to last longer, but it wasn't worth the cost of the lives lost.

Someone been brought into the sick bay with a bite, hidden on the back of their leg. No one even knew until the screams started. The outbreak lasted less than an hour, but it was just long enough to cause heavy damage. Both to the people, and morale. We got everyone out that we could, fending off the Virals, long enough for everyone who could to get up the stairs. Most of the floor survived, getting out with barely a scratch. But still, we lost too many. 13 people were killed, 4 of those children, and 7 more were bitten. It did nothing but give everyone more to worry about.

Lena was at her wits end, every day, someone would be brought in with an injury of some kind. Sometimes, it would be nothing more than a sprained ankle, or a mild headache. Those people were told to rest for a few days, and that would be it. Other times it was more serious. There were two major injuries that I knew of. One had been a little girl, no more than 4 or 5, brought in with third degree burns to over half her face and body. She had apparently been playing on the roof when a steam pipe burst, she would be scarred and blind for life. The second was a man, I'd never seen him before, but I could tell he wasn't going to make it. His leg was gone below the knee, he was covered in deep cuts, bruises marred his chest, probably from a broken rib, and there was a bullet wound in his shoulder and across the side of his head. Lena gave him some tranquilisers and put him to sleep. He didn't wake up.

Zere kept saying he was close to a cure. Ever since Ari had turned the antenna on, he'd been able to talk with Doctor Camden in Sector 0. They shared notes and data, trying to work out something. It was all malarkey to me, but I knew it was important. Zere knew that he had cracked it when I stumbled upon an infected at sundown. I was just down the road from a safe house when it leapt into my path. It was about the size of a female Volatile, covered in huge green blisters. Instead of attacking me like I expected, it stared at me for a minute, tilting its head this way and that. Before giving off what looked like a snort, and running off down the road. I was shaken by it, so I brought it up when I went and saw Zere next. He said if I could get him a tissue sample of one, he could study it. So, I set out at twilight the next day and waited in the same spot as before. Sure enough, just before the sun disappeared completely, it jumped out into the street, it's back turned towards me. I felt bad about having to kill one, when it had done nothing to hurt me, or anyone as far as I knew. I figured that a finger or two would do the job.

Zere's results came back a few days later. And whatever he was doing, it was working. The tissue show a full reconstitution of the infected area, and complete inhibition and destruction of the active virus. Whatever that meant. I didn't pretend to understand, so I asked what he meant.

"It means, that it's dying. The virus is being destroyed faster than it can replicate! This is extraordinary! In 5 or 6 months, I think that we can actually have a chance at a usable cure!" He hugged me tightly at the end of his explanation, and I quietly crept out while he was distracted.

Jade was... not doing well. Months of having no contact with us had not helped her at all. She was still taking Rahim's death hard. When she asked me what his last words were, I hesitated, caught off guard by the question. I told her that his last words were about Ari, I expected to see sadness or something of that kind. What I didn't expect, was pure anger at the mention of my sister. I could almost feel the hate rolling off her.

"She was the one who saw him the most, she was the one who could have stopped him. But what did she do? Nothing! She sat on her arse, waiting for something to happen, and when nothing did, she comes running to you. She should have talked him out of going for that nest, but she didn't, she said she'd go with him. She supported his fucking stupid idea, when she should have been the reasonable one. So don't... don't ever mention her around me again." She stormed out of the room after that, leaving me shocked in her wake. I knew that she'd have come up with her own version of the events that happened, but I had no idea they'd be that twisted, and would influence her enough to hate Ari. I just prayed that she wouldn't find out that the mysterious girl in the mask was Ari.

As for her, I hadn't seen much of her since we arrived. I only saw her in between missions, and for only an hour each time. I could tell that being back near the Tower was taking its toll on her. She was jumpy, almost as if everyone was put to get her. No matter how many times I talked to her, trying to get her to snap out of it, she'd push me away, and shut everything out. It was at these times when I knew that she still wasn't all there. Part of her had been left with Rahim, and it was doubtful she'd ever get that back. She wouldn't talk to me about anything from that time, and when I told her what Jade had said, she replied that she probably deserved it. Whenever I caught her without her mask on, which wasn't as often as I would have liked, I could see the rings under her eye, and the constant tired look on her face. She wasn't sleeping well, I could see that clear as day, the problem was that I had no idea how to help her. The only thing I could think of was to get her to confront what she feared about being back. But after what Jade had said, I doubted that would work anymore. I had to just let her work things out in her own way, whatever that was.

Brecken was as stubborn as ever. Pushing for things to happen quicker than they needed to, taking unnecessary risks, and just being a general ass. He went on another night mission, trying to steal Antizin from Rais himself. He made it out, barely. He didn't lose anyone, but one of the better runners, Amir was his name, was put out of commission from a broken ankle. It put more strain on Lena, to take care of yet another injured, and the other runners, to pick up the slack in his absence.

Nadeau was having a hard time without Ari there to talk to. She was his sister in all but blood, and he seemed like he was tearing himself apart trying to find out anything he could. My reassurances that she was alive did little to help, but calmed him down enough to do his job properly.

I had no clue on anything Rais was planning, but everyone knew it was something big. His men had all but abandoned the streets, collecting themselves back at the garrison. They seemed like they were mobilising for an attack, or a move, or something. It worried me, whenever Rais' men went quiet, it was a bad sign. One of his men was captured by Brecken, and pumped for information. There was going to be an attack on Zere. Rais knew about the cure data, and wanted it for something. We removed Zere from his trailer, downloaded all his data onto hard drives, and moved everything into an unused room on the 20th floor. He would be safe there, for a while at least.

And then we were back to me. I was holding up okay, considering. Rahim's death hadn't affected me as much as Ari. I was close to him, but not that much. It made me feel like an asshole for the first week or so after it had happened. Ari had been wallowing in sadness while I was running around, trying to keep us alive for another day or so. Since arriving at the Tower, the hardest thing I'd had to do was hold down the little girl while her burns were being treated. That tore me up for days afterwards. Something about children getting hurt always seemed to get to me. I was going fine. At least until the attack.

* * *

My heart hammered in my chest as I held the rifle up. This was it. The attack that had been coming for days. It was almost midnight, and in the distance, I could hear Volatiles screeching. I'd we didn't deal with this quickly, we'd be overrun with no chance of survival. Volatiles didn't bite you, they couldn't even spread the infection, something to do with it becoming inert. What they did do was tear you limb from limb, rip your ribcage apart, and feast. All while you were still alive. It was a fate I wished on no one. Except maybe Rais. The rev of several engines grew louder. They were coming. One of the men gathered climbed the stairs to the trailer.

"Everyone get to cover. Hold 'em off for as long as you can, get into the trailer if you get hit. We don't need any pointless heroics!"

With a huge crash, the fence on the other side of the field fell. Twisted beneath the bulk of three huge vans. Men piled put of them, at least 18 in total. Almost 3 times what we had as defence. Over the top of my cover, I scanned the assembled bandits for weapons. Five rifles, two shotguns, a handful of pistols. Everyone had at least one back up weapon, either another firearm or a blade or bat of some kind. I almost dropped my rifle and ran. We didn't stand a chance. I looked over at Nadeau, who have me a reassuring smile before turning his attention back to the bandits.

That was when the first shot rang out.

One of Rais' men fell, blood spraying across the side of the van. With a primal roar, the rest of us opened fire. Seven more of the bandits fell before they could react. Then they started firing back. Shots ricocheted off the trailer, still sat imperiously in the middle of the yard.

The first of our men fell. He dived in front of one of the other defenders, taking a bullet to the chest. He was dead before he hit the ground. I lined up a shot on the one who killed him and fired. He dropped to the ground, blood flowing from the hole in his neck. The second of our men fell to a shotgun, the bandit had charged straight up the middle, not caring for his own life. Six shots from my rifle took him down. Three more of the bandits were killed. They had numbers, but we had discipline. It was when the third of our men fell that I stopped conserving ammo.

Shoot, reload, shoot again. It was a vicious cycle. Five more bandits fell before another of ours. The one who gave the speech this time. It was just Nadeau and I left. Two against four. I fired blindly over the top of my cover, until the magazine ran out. I dropped it from the rifle and reached into my pack. I was on my last mag.

The screeches of the Volatiles were closer. The UV lights were still running, they wouldn't be able to get in. I aimed over the sandbags, dropping another two, as Nadeau took out one more. Now the odds had turned. I smirked, this wasn't so hard after all. And a grenade sailed over the cover Nadeau was behind.

It all happened in slow motion. The grenade bouncing off the wall behind him, sparks flying from the makeshift fuse. The look on his face as he realised he wasn't going to make it. Me racing towards him, trying to get him out of harm's way. The grenade exploding, shrapnel flying everywhere. And then it was over.

Something in me snapped. I spun on the final bandit, his gun had run out of ammo. Mine hadn't. I emptied the whole magazine into him. His chest nothing more than pulp under the onslaught. My gun clicked empty. It was over. We won. But at what cost? 5 of our people were dead, including Nadeau. The park was in ruins, Zere's trailer beyond repair, and bodies littering the ground. My stomach heaved at the thought of the people I killed. They were just trying to get by, like all of us. Although I knew it had to be done, it didn't mean I liked it. I collapsed to my knees in the mud. A sob forced its way from my throat.

We won, but sometimes, maybe winning wasn't the right thing to do.

* * *

Ari took the news of Nadeau's death silently, nodding along as if she'd been expecting something like this to happen. I could see tears beneath the mask. I pulled her into a hug, which she returned. I vowed to myself to make Rais pay. Even if it killed me, and knowing the way I acted, it probably would.

But until then, I would keep the Tower safe. It was what I'd already been doing, why should I have stopped then?

I reasoned to myself that finding Rais could wait, that he would still be in the garrison. It wasn't until days after the attack that I found out he abandoned the apartment complex of his base, and had disappeared to Sector 0. All hope of finding him again was gone. And then there were the Saviours.


	12. Chapter 8: What Hides Below

**The story up until this point has followed the main quests pretty closely up until this point, only a few changes here and there. This chapter is where things deviate pretty heavily from what we know. The ending will still happen, just very differently, and a bit less of a disappointment than the one in the game.**

 **Also, fair warning about this chapter. It gets pretty dark and gory, so if that's not your thing, sorry, but it had to be done. If it gets too much, just close your eyes for a while.**

 **Without further ado, the first half of the sewers to Old Town. Enjoy.**

 **I don't own Dying Light. Even though I may want to.**

* * *

 _All hope of finding him again was gone._

 _And then there were the Saviours._

* * *

 **Valerija**

* * *

Water dripped from the ends of pipes, rhythmically tapping on the ground. Moss was growing in abundance, the walls green with the plant. A river of water ran down the middle of the tunnel, flowing deeper into the labyrinth, and the man in front of me hefted his rifle up higher. I scanned the dark paths off to the sides, my flashlight flickering shadows across the walls, creating monsters out of nothing. Several times, I could have sworn I saw something dash down a pipe. When I asked the guide, his only answer was "There's nothing, we've checked."

For some reason, I didn't trust him. There wasn't anything overly obvious, but something about him struck me as off. The way his eyes kept flicking back to me, making sure I was still following, or maybe the way that he kept readjusting his rifle, as if he was waiting for something to happen. Everything was putting me on edge. My hand rested on the handle of my axe, the smooth leather grip giving me some small measure of comfort.

The tunnels seemed to drag on forever, and more than once did I think that we were going in circles. The same moss, the same pipes, the same shadowed monsters. It was when I heard voices that I let out a breath.

"Come on, we've been waiting here for hours!"

"Shut it! You want to get through alive? What about your kid? You do? Then you wait 'til we get the all clear, then you can go."

"Surely you can't be serious? These tunnels go straight through. An hour to walk at the most! There can not be that many infected. We've been here for almost 7!" I rounded the corner and saw two men arguing in the middle of a small maintenance room.

One of them wore a white business suit, spattered red with blood. A pistol was tucked into the back of his trousers. He looked familiar, and I racked my brain to figure out where from. The other, who I'd never seen before, wore runners clothes: track shoes, cargo pants, and a light jacket. He had an automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, and a scimitar on his hip. The runner was obviously the one smuggling the people through.

"Listen here..."

"Dawud." Shit, he was the guy who shot a guard, took his kid, and ran.

"Well, Dawud, you paid me double the normal cost to get you and your shit of a kid through here. I got you into this group, I can take you out of it. So that means you can fucking well deal with it. Are we clear?" Dawud gritted his teeth angrily.

"Crystal." The runner clapped Dawud heavily on the back.

"Good, good. Do it again and I break your legs." With the warning delivered, he pulled the scimitar from his hip and started sharpening the blade. Dawud grumbled angrily and went to check on his kid. There were several other people in the room, a man and a woman, and a girl, probably a bit older than me. The Saviour who lead me through the tunnels waved me over to a barrel fire.

"You're gonna get to go through before everyone else, we've sent two men through, they should radio in a few minutes. Until then, just hold tight, won't be too much longer." I nodded and held my hands in front of the flame.

"Thanks..."

"Hale." He turned back to the fire, closing any further conversation. I watched the fire for a while, letting the warmth seep into my hands, before Hale's radio crackled, and a tinny voice floated through, echoing in the small space.

 _"Got some bad news guys. Tunnels have gone down all over the place, we've had to loop out into the bay. You're looking at a 12 hour walk to get to Sector 0. We cracked into a nest of Volatiles beneath the stadium_ _. There's only six of the fuckers, but they're riled up something fierce. Something down here's got 'em going. We've sealed it off as best we can but it's right in the path. We're asking for someone to head in from Sector 0 with some explosives, but it'll be a few hours from now before they get here. They're having some trouble with a horde topside, so Troy can't spare anyone 'til it's dealt with. Sorry guys, seems like you're in for the long haul."_ A collective groan rippled through the gathered survivors, the Saviours only showing mild signs of distaste. Hale clapped his hands, gathering everyone's attention.

"You heard him, pack it in for the night. We'll wake you when you can move. Tayyar, you're on first watch." He turned to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "Take my advice, and get some sleep. You'll need it if you want to make it to Sector 0 by tomorrow." I thanked him and laid down on a nearby mattress. It was lumpy, stained, and torn, but it was better than concrete. In minutes, I was asleep.

* * *

 _I was running. Twisting through alleyways and streets, vaulting over cars and fences. I could hear something heavy behind me, crashing through obstacles that I had avoided. When I looked back, I could see nothing but blackness._

 _The creature behind me grew closer, I could feel it breathing down my neck. I tripped on something, and suddenly, I was on top of a tower. The wind blew around me, tossing my hair out in a curtain. A blade whistled towards me, and I unconsciously brought my own up in defence. There was no person holding it, just a shapeless black mist, the blade floating ominously in front of it. We traded blows for what seemed like an age, before I heard something clatter behind me. I turned my head, and saw Ari standing there, watching silently._

 _I felt the machete cut into me. I looked down, frozen in shock. The engraved blade stuck from my stomach, blood slowly trickling down its surface. The mist coalesced into the form of a man. Rais. He smirked coldly and kicked, sending me towards the edge of the building. I heard my sister scream._

 _And then I started to fall._

* * *

I woke with a start, breathing heavily. I sat bolt upright at the memory of the dream, and ran a hand across my stomach. Nothing, no wound, no scar.

 _It wasn't real._ I repeated that thought over and over in my head. But no matter how many times I said it, I couldn't shake the bad feeling I got. I wiped the sweat off my face and scanned the room.

The fire had died, casting a weak orange glow around the room. Dawud was curled up in the corner, his son slumped next to him, a toy sword in hand. One of the Saviours, Tayyar, was sat in a folding chair, rifle leaned against the side. Every so often, he would mumble incoherently in his sleep. Hale was leaned against the single door frame, scanning the pitch black tunnels. A thin stream of smoke drifted from a cigarette that hung from his mouth. He turned when I walked up beside him. He grunted in greeting and held out the packet of smokes. I pulled one from the packet and held it out for him to light.

The bitter smoke burnt my lungs as it went down, but it was exactly what I needed. Hale reached up and pulled the cigarette from his lips, not turning away from the sewers as he spoke.

"Couldn't sleep?" His voice was rough from disuse.

"No, how long was I out?"

"About 5 hours. I'd have expected to hear from the others by now."

"Maybe something's holding them up?" I took another pull of the cigarette, letting the smoke drift lazily from my mouth. He shook his head.

"No, they'd have said something if it was going to take longer." He dropped his smoke on the ground before crushing it with his boot. We talked for an hour, about nothing in particular. The wrong feeling I got from Hale faded as we talked. It turned out that every so often, as they were leading someone to this room, that someone would just disappear. No traces, nothing. Every so often, I could have sworn I heard something echo through the tunnels. Every time I looked to Hale for his reaction, he did nothing but shake his head slightly.

Maybe it was my nerves playing up from the nightmare, or maybe I was just tired. Either way, I jumped when his radio came to life.

 _"Hale, Tayyar, come in. Now!"_ The urgency of his voice startled Hale into action. He gripped his rifle tighter and held the radio to his mouth.

"I'm here, what's happened?"

 _"You need to get out of there! Now! Whatever riled the Volatiles up just tore through the barricade, we're trying to keep the Vollies in but you need to leave!_ _Blue and fucking huge is all I can tell you about it. Look man, I don't know what the fuck it was, but it's coming your way, and fast. You've got about 20 minutes before it gets to you."_ 20 minutes. That would get us out of the sewers. But we wouldn't be outside. Would we be safe?

I shared a look with Hale that told me he was thinking the same thing. He lifted the radio again. "Copy, we'll leave as soon as everyone's up."

 _"For your sake you better be fucking quick about it."_ The line went dead. Hale turned around and yelled at the sleeping group.

"Alright, everyone up! Now! Something big and angry is coming for us, and I don't know what it is. We need to leave! Now!" Dawud was the first one up, his face a mixture of anger and fear. The couple followed soon after. The other Saviour, Tayyar, had to shake the other girl awake.

"What about getting to the other side? I paid for you to get me there!" Dawud yelled, his face red from anger. Hale stormed up to him, backing him into a wall.

"Listen here you piece of shit, if you want to go and tango with whatever the fuck is storming through these tunnels on its way here, then be my guest. But if you want to have at least some chance of you and your son surviving, you come with us back to the slums." He paused, letting his words sink in. "What'll it be?" Dawud looked like he was going to argue back, but the thought of dying overrode what he was going to say, and he nodded meekly. Hale immediately snapped back to business. "Alright, everyone, let's move, now!"

Everyone stood and headed to the door. The couple were the first out, and the man was immediately dragged off into the darkness by some unseen being. His wife gave a piercing scream, before being hauled back into the room by Tayyar. Whatever was coming, had already arrived.

* * *

We were huddled in one corner of the maintenance room. The heavy steel door had been shut and locked, sealing whatever was out there away from us. There were only six of us left now. The man's wife had broken free from Tayyar's hold when she heard her husband calling for help. She suffered the same fate he did, being hauled off into the darkness.

I had caught a glimpse of it in the frantic torchlight. It was huge, almost as big as a gorilla. Blue, reflective armour glinted in the brief light. That was all I saw before it charged, and the door was slammed shut.

Everyone shared a moment of panic as the door groaned, and creaked under the immense weight. But ultimately, the heavy steel won out, and the creature backed off. Every so often, a screech or a roar cut through the silence. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

I had always thought that Volatiles had the most hair-raising sound. But this was something completely different. It sounded like something directly from hell. The way the tone started off quiet, quickly growing in volume to become a warbling cry. It screeched like tearing metal, while at the same time sounding like a dying bird. It was not unlike the sounds you hear about in ghost stories.

Except this wasn't a ghost story, it was real. And it was deadly.

We didn't know what to do. We had rolled one of my grenades out the door, but all that seemed to do was make it angrier. We used Tayyar's scimitar to cut the mattress into a human shape and threw that out the door. The creature gave a sound that was like a laugh, as if we were insulting its intelligence. That was when realisation washed over me.

It was toying with us.

It could have torn the door down ages ago and been done with us. But it hadn't. It was letting us try and escape. My head snapped up to the door as it started to groan, as if something was pressing against it. My eyes widened. It was coming in. Everyone seemed to notice this at the same time, a few seconds after I did. With a snap, the hinges gave way, and the door crashed to the ground.

The creature was bigger than I thought, almost twice the size of a gorilla, sitting on all fours just outside the door. Its jaw was split, like a Volatile, but instead of the two sides hanging limply apart, it seemed to be split into four pieces that could move, almost like a spiders pincers. There was no tongue hanging from its mouth, instead there was a hole lined with teeth. Its blue armour plates covered its whole body, leaving nothing unprotected.

It loped forward, stopping on top of the door. And all hell broke loose.

It was hard to keep track of what happened. One second it was by the door, the next it had the girl up against the wall. The Super Volatile had her throat in its hand as she clawed frantically, her eyes wide with fear. Tayyar had started firing his rifle at it, but the bullets just bounced off. It continued staring at the girl, tilting it's head to the side. Time seemed to freeze as the creature leaned in further, tightening its hold on her neck. She twisted her body around, trying to loosen its hold, but the monster still didn't let go. It snarled at her, it's jaws parted, and it bit down on her head. Her screams echoed through the room, her hands beat weakly at the creatures face. It jerked its head back, and the girls screams were cut off with a sickening crack. Her legs twitched as the monster threw her head against the wall. Her body dropped to the ground with a thud, and the Super Volatile turned its head to stare at the rest of us.

Tayyar was the next to go. He fired a shot at the creature, striking it just above the eye. It whirled on him faster than I thought capable. He had a shocked look on his face as it barreled into him, swiping at him with the back of its hand. He flew across the room, slamming into the wall. Another crack echoed through the room, his back had twisted at an unnatural angle and blood pooled from his mouth.

When it turned to Dawud and his son, only a few seconds had passed. I leapt into action. I ran forward, pulling my hatchet from its loop. It turned and roared at me, jaws splitting, spraying a mix of blood and saliva.

It closed the gap between us in less than a second, I barely had time to roll under its claws. I came to stop under its stomach, buried my hatchet in the joint of its knee, and tore all the way through. It gave an ear shattering screech of pain as it's leg gave way. I spun on my heel behind it, and jumped up onto its back. Hale pelted it with shots, trying to score a lucky hit.

It gave a roar of annoyance, and twisted around, trying to throw me off. I threw myself higher up, grabbing onto the ridge of armour behind its neck. It threw its body around more, trying harder and harder to throw me off. I dug my hatchet into its armour, cracking the plates as I did so. I pulled my handgun from the back of my belt, and pressed the barrel against its exposed neck. I gave a war cry, and pulled the trigger over and over, emptying the magazine into it. Its body jerked with every shot, spraying blood over my face. The gun clicked empty, and I pushed myself off its back, dislodging my hatchet, and rolling to my feet. I spun, just in time to see the creature give a shuddering gasp, and fall to the ground, convulsing. Blood flowed freely from its neck, pooling in every direction.

It was over.


	13. Chapter 9: The Red Caves

**Second part of the tunnels is in this chapter. It's a little shorter, but you'll see why when you reach the end. Old Town will be next time, and we're almost done with the whole thing. Enjoy!**

 **As always, I don't own Dying Light.**

* * *

 _Blood flowed freely from its neck, pooling in every direction._

 _It was over._

* * *

 **Valerija**

* * *

The tunnels had blended into one another almost two hours ago, their brickwork and mossy growths becoming monotonous. Dawud and his son walked behind me, and Hale walked in front. We were all shaken up by whatever that creature was.

We had agreed not to talk about it when we go to Sector 0, we didn't want to cause panic about what might be growing beneath the city. Gods know there was panic enough.

We came to another collapse, pipes and metal works stuck from the rubble at odd angles, a biter was half buried, clawing at the earth in a futile attempt to get to us. Hale jabbed a knife through its head, and we kept walking. The tunnels once again blending into each other. The constant sound of water dripping providing much needed noise to the otherwise silent tunnels.

After another hour of walking, mostly in silence, we came to where the Volatile's nest was supposed to be.

Two Saviours leaned against the wall breathing heavily. They looked like they hadn't slept in hours, and sweat beaded off their skin. The corpses of Volatiles lined the ground, little more than five piles of flesh. As we approached, the one nearest to us looked up and grinned. Hale opened his arms in greeting.

"Gerald," he called as we got closer.

"Am I fucking glad to see you." He pulled Hale into a one armed hug, before looking at the rest of us. "This is all that's left?" Hale nodded once.

"We lost the rest on the way." He didn't say how we had been slaughtered by something that we still didn't understand. Gerald nodded in understanding.

"Always a shame when that happens. We've not had much better luck here." He gestured to the dead Volatiles. "We took five of them, they took three of us. We lost Yahar, Kara, and Sahir. Sasha and I are all that's left." I looked again at the dead infected. There should have been one more.

"I thought you said there were six in the nest. Where's the last one?" Gerald flicked a glance towards the dark entry to the nest.

"He's still in there somewhere. Seems to have calmed down since that thing tore out." He clicked his fingers and turned to Hale. "Speaking of which, did you ever see what it was?" Hale shook his head slowly, hastily coming up with a lie.

"No, we never saw anything. We made it back to the surface and waited an hour up there, whatever it was, it was gone when we got back down." Gerald shrugged in indifference.

"Oh well, would have been nice to know what it was. Anyway, you should be good to get through now. Just stick together, keep going straight, and you'll be fine." He waved a hand at us and turned back to the other Saviour, Sasha. I looked at Hale and he shrugged, walking into the darkness.

* * *

I flicked my torch on as I stepped through the tunnels entrance. It was more rundown than the other tunnels, looking more like a cave than a sewer. Red moss grew on the walls, and a small stream of water ran down the side of the path. Clumps of moss floated in the water, trailing red down the stream. I didn't know what it was, but something told me not to touch it.

"Don't touch the moss guys, something off about it." I looked back at Dawud and saw him snatch his sons hand away from one of the floating growths.

We continued in silence, our footsteps ringing through the tunnel. At one stage, I heard one of the two behind me stumble.

"Alright back there?"

"Yeah," Dawud's voice called back. "Just tripped over my own feet." Eventually, the passage widened out into a cavern, almost 100 metres across. Several different paths led off in different directions, heading to who knows where. The stream collected into a clear lake in the centre. Hale broke off and shone his torch down into the water.

"This thing must be almost a hundred metres deep." He waved me over. I turned to Dawud.

"Stay here. Don't touch anything." He nodded and pulled his handgun from his belt. I walked over to Hale, and he pointed down at the walls of the lake. It was lined with red moss, some of the strands almost 15 metres long, waving in an unseen current. "What do you think it is?" He shook his head.

"I've got no clue. Never seen anything like it before." He lifted his radio up to his mouth. "Hey Gerald, Sasha, you guys there?" The radio crackled. "No answer. Shit, we must be out of range. Where the fuck are we?" I shivered, the air suddenly feeling much colder.

"I don't know, we should keep moving. The sooner we're out of here the better." Hale looked around once more before nodding.

"Hey Dawud, over here." Dawud leaned down and whispered something to his son, before he stood and pushed him towards us. I shot him a questioning look, seeing how he kept one hand behind his back. He held it out.

It was red and inflamed. The skin had peeled off. It looked extremely painful. His face held a downcast look.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't say anything. When I stumbled earlier, I grabbed the wall without thinking." He shuddered as I watched the skin on his arm start to flake off. "Just please, get Sammy out of here, I don't want him to see this." I stood my ground. There was no way I was leaving anyone else behind.

"Dawud please, we can get you a shot of Antizin, pain killers, something." He shook his head in resignation.

"I don't think any of those will work. I can feel myself changing. Just please get my son out of here, that's all I ask." Hale grabbed my arm and started to pull me away. I shook him off.

"Dawud, we'll think of something. Just, come on."

"No, I'm sorry but-" His voice was cut off with a scream. He doubled over, clutching at his stomach. He coughed heavily, blood spattering the ground. I pushed his son behind me, into Hales arms.

"Get him out of here," I hissed. I cut him off before he could protest. "Now! I'll catch up." Another scream rent the air. Hale hefted Sammy into his arms and ran, heading down the second path from the left. I turned back to Dawud, and pulled my hatchet from my belt.

The skin had peeled or flaked off the rest of his body, his hair had fallen out and was lying in a clump on the ground. His rib cage had split open, and his jaw had parted right down the middle.

He'd turned into a Volatile.

I hooked my hatchet on my belt and ran. The tunnel entrance loomed in front of me. I heard Dawud screech, and was tackled to the ground. I slid across the gravel floor, stopping when I slammed into the wall. The Volatile leapt at me, and I rolled out of the way. Standing quickly, i pulled my hatchet from my belt again, and dropped into a defensive stance.

The Volatile sprung to its feet, its screeching roar echoing through the chamber. We circled each other, neither of us making a move. When it pounced, I was ready, I sidestepped and brought my hatchet down. It struck the Volatile, digging into its back. It twisted, wrenching the axe from my hands. I jumped back and pulled my handgun from its holster. We continued the dance, it would leap at me, and I would dodge, trying to find an opening.

It came when it caught me and pressed me to the floor, its hands pressing down on my chest. I brought the handgun up to its temple, and fired.

Right as it bit into my shoulder.

I screamed as its teeth tore through my skin, almost digging into the bone. I fired my gun into its head two more times before it slumped over dead. I pushed it off me and propped myself up on my elbows. My shirt was torn, exposing the skin beneath. Blood flowed from the teeth marks, the skin around the bite already turning black. I forced myself to stand, my legs shaking. I stumbled into the tunnel, hoping that Hale wasn't too far ahead. My shoulder throbbed, and I forced myself to keep going. I saw two shapes ahead, outlined by the outside world.

Hale and Sammy.

I quickened my pace, stumbling on loose rocks. I threw my arms out around Hale as my legs gave out. His eyes were wide, shock and worry written all over his face. He lifted me up and threw me on his back. I vaguely recalled being hauled through several tunnels before being forced up a ladder. I was propped against a crate, and a fire was lit in front of me. The heat did little to clear the fog from my mind. I could feel my arms getting weaker, my breathing became shallow. My fingers grew numb, and my vision blurred even more. I felt my heart slow, and I knew I was going to die.


	14. Chapter 10: Sinking Shadows

**Finally getting to Old Town in this chapter. A lot of things from earlier chapters come back from this chapter on. Enjoy!**

 **I don't, and never will, own Dying Light.**

* * *

 _My fingers grew numb, and my vision blurred even more. I felt my heart slow, and I knew I was going to die._

* * *

Molten fire shot through my veins, snapping me back. My eyes flew open, and I flexed my fingers experimentally. I was sat in front of a burning fire, Hale was crouched before me, an automatic syringe in his hand. I smiled weakly at him and he let out a breath.

"You scared the shit out of me." He handed me a flask of water, which I drank from greedily. "That is one hell of a bite. I don't think I've ever seen someone survive an attack like that." I handed him the flask back, and looked down at my shoulder. The wound was still tinted black, a jagged set of teeth marks ran across my collar bone like a morbid tattoo. There was no doubt about it. I was infected. I sighed and dropped my head into my hands.

"How am I gonna tell Ari?" I whispered to myself. We'd already lost Ilyana to the disease, we didn't need another one. Me or her. I forced myself to stand, swaying for a second as I regained my sense of balance. "How long was I out?" I asked aloud.

"About 20 seconds. Any longer, and you would be dead. Or one of them." Hale shrugged, as if the past was the past.

"We should get moving then, we still have to get to Sector 0 by nightfall. We've got..." I trailed off as I looked at my broken watch, the screen shattered. "Shit, I don't know. But we don't have long." He nodded in agreement before turning to Sammy.

"And we've gotta get this guy somewhere safe, he cant stay with us, too dangerous. You're proof of that."

"Where do you suggest? We can't very well leave him at a safe house. Most of those things are abandoned anyway." He seemed to debate that for a while before he spoke again.

"The University. Plenty of guards, other kids. We leave him there, tell someone from the Tower where he is, and they can come and get him." With the plan made up, we extinguished the fire, and moved out. The tunnels had opened into more modern passages. The red moss was nowhere to be seen. In fact, in the tunnels here, it was easy to forget that there was even a quarantine above. Everything seemed so mundane, so normal. It was nice to pretend for a while.

The illusion was shattered when we entered into an open courtyard.

Bodies littered the ground. Windows smashed, balcony fences torn down. It was a blood bath. I flipped one of the bodies over, his shirt was yellow with three black stripes.

Rais.

I stood and scanned the courtyard, more cautious than I was before. I heard Hale tell Sammy to hide, before he walked up beside me, rifle ready. Something behind us crunched, and Hale snapped his rifle immediately to the source. My pistol was aimed a second later. Gerald and Sasha stood there, Geralds heavy boot on a piece of glass. I let out a breath, and heard Hale do the same.

"Don't do that guys." Hale walked over and pulled both of them into a hug. "I almost fucking shot you." Hale and Gerald walked off to search the courtyard, and pull sammy from hiding. Sasha turned to say something to me, but whatever it was died on her lips as she saw the bite wound.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell did that?" Her eyes widened comically as I told her what it was. "Damn, that must-"

"Get down! Grenade!" Hales voice rang out. I dived on top of Sasha, pushing her to the ground. I covered my head as the explosive detonated in the middle of the courtyard. I felt chunks of something land on my back. Knowing what the court looked like before, it was probably human. "Door trap! Sorry! Should be clear up here now though!" Picking ourselves off the ground, we made our way up to the second floor. Hale and Gerald stood in front of an ornate door, Sammy was holding onto Hales back. "Ready?"At our confirming nods, we entered the building.

* * *

We stepped onto the rooftop, sunlight streaming through the wide awnings overhead. Fires burned in the distance, and a huge, unfinished clock tower rose in the middle of the city. Off to the left, an ornate building rose above others in the area, a large blue flag flew from the flag post. A jet screamed overhead, surprising me. I'd expected the military to be done with this zone. It was one of the first points of outbreak, hence the name Sector 0. But it was also the smallest quarantine, a quarter the size the slums were.

Gerald and Sasha agreed to take Sammy to the University, and stay with him until someone came to take him back. Hale and I would head to the clock tower. I'd heard about a group of survivors there, and I hoped they could help us find Rais.

It took us almost two hours to walk to the tower. This part of the city was more overrun with infected than even the slums were. We tried to stick to the roof tops, but even they were almost overrun. We had to keep ducking through buildings, dropping down levels, hiding behind cars and trashcans. When we reached the bottom of the tower, we were exhausted and breathing heavily. Hale had reached the top by the time I was half way up the scaffolding around the tower. Every time I reached up to grab the nest support, my shoulder twitched painfully. Several times, I had to hook my good arm around a pole and rest. By the time we reached the top, my arms felt like they were going to fall off, and my shoulder had started bleeding again. When Hale saw, he put a hand on my good shoulder.

"You need to rest, I've already spoken with the leader, and I'll tell you what she said, after you sleep." I nodded and leaned heavily into his side. He lead me down a ramp on the side of the tower, and into a room with several sleeping bags lined along the walls. He sat me down on one, and took my boots off for me. He pointed to one on the other side of the room. "I'll be right here." I nodded wearily, and laid my head down. But no matter how hard I tried to sleep, every time I closed my eyes, I saw flashes of the creature, and of Dawud turning. After an hour of trying to force myself asleep, my body finally complied.

I woke in a cold sweat, dull blue light shone through the slightly open windows. My hands shook uncontrollably and my shoulder burned. I sat up and reached for my pack. Rifling through, I searched for the Antizin I kept for emergencies. Pulling it out, I pressed the injector against my neck and pulled the trigger. My hands stopped shaking almost immediately, and the fire shot through my veins again.

If this is what the rest of my life was going to be like, I wasn't sure if I wanted it.

* * *

 _1 Week Earlier_

* * *

 **Ardelis**

* * *

My head spun as I sat up groggily. It felt like I'd been run over by a train. I gripped the side of my head as it throbbed painfully.

Sounds started coming to me. A crowd cheering, something banging on metal. I forced my eyes open. I was in the middle of a pit, unfinished supports and storage crates littered the arena. I looked up to the pitch black sky, not even a single star in sight. A voice boomed over the others.

"Welcome, welcome." It was Rais, standing high on a cleaning lift. "You've been a real thorn in my side lately. Stealing supplies, ruining trades, killing my men! Well, it seems the invincible 'Masked One,' isn't so invincible after all. If you can make it out alive, I'll be impressed." He sneered coldly. "And then I'll just kill you myself. Begin!" He slammed a button km the panel in front of him, and the doors of one of the crates sprung open.

The air was immediately filled with the roars of the infected. Scrambling to my feet, I searched frantically for a weapon. My eyes landed on a length of pipe. I dove for it, grabbing it by the end, and swung it around behind me, caving in the skull of a biter. I jerked the weapon free as I ducked under the flailing arms of a Viral. I kicked out at its knee, sending it sprawling to the ground. I slammed the pipe down, caving in another skull. The pipe snapped, the stress too much for the rusted metal. I jabbed it through the eye of the nearest infected, letting go as it went down with the zombie. Another viral lunged at me, I spun around behind its back, grabbing its head and twisting it sideways.

The Viral collapsed in a heap. Another one lunged at me, but I was too slow to avoid it. It knocked me down onto the ground, and I covered my face with my arms. It clawed madly at me, leaving what I could only assume were deep gouges. I brought my foot up and kicked at its chest. I heard something in it crack, and it stumbled off me. Whatever I had broken obviously wasn't enough, as once it shook off the kick, it charged at me again. I rolled out of the way, and my hands landed on the broken pipe, still stuck inside the zombie. Finding no better weapon, I pulled it free and brandished it like a blade. It would have to do.

The Viral pounced again, and repeating my move from floor 13, I held it out in front of me, letting the Viral spear itself. The pipe was completely useless now, wedged into the bone. I whirled around, ready for the next attack, but everything was dead. The whole fight had taken place in the centre of the arena, and in less than a minute. I heard clapping from above me, and shifted my gaze to the lift Rais stood on. It was descending slowly, until it stopped about 7 metres off the ground, too high for me to reach.

"Congratulations! I honestly thought you were all bark, but I see I have been proven wrong. I think you have deserved this, of all things," he dropped a very makeshift machete from his hand. "Show us more 'Masked One,' and I may change my mind about killing you." He rolled his right hand and the lift started to rise, as he pushed a button with his other one.

The whir of machinery drew my attention to a crane carrying a new crate. The crate rocked wildly, almost snapping free **.** It stopped several feet above the ground, before the cables released, dropping the crate to the ground. The door released with a hiss of gas, before whatever was inside broke them off their hinges, and leapt into the arena.

It was a Volatile, bigger than I'd ever seen before. I looked passed it into the crate. The walls were lined with deep gouges and there were several holes punched through the metal. The Volatiles gaze wandered around the crowd gathered on the scaffolding, before coming to rest on me. It's eyes narrowed, and it's jaws parted. It let out a screech and charged.

I jumped to the side, narrowly missing the full force of the charge. I spun and raised the machete. It swiped at me and I deflected the strike with the blade, scoring a hit along its arm. The force of the blow knocked me back, my feet skidding across the loose gravel floor. It jumped again and I stabbed out with the end of the blade. It landed on top of me, pushing me to the ground. The machete stuck from its chest, just to the left of its heart. It roared from its position on top of me, spraying blood and saliva. I pulled my arm back and punched, hitting it on the side of its face. It jerked back slightly, but it was all I needed. I rolled back so I could plant my foot on its chest, right next to the protruding blade. I pulled on the blade, using my foot as a lever. It drew put with a squelch, and I thrust it into the Volatiles head as soon as it was free.

The infected slumped on top of me, dead. I rolled it off me and removed the machete. My clothes were ruined, gaping holes lined the front of my trousers, and my sleeves were in tatters. My arms were marred with huge gouges and scratches from the Viral, and I felt blood trickling down the side of my face. It was now I noticed that the crowd was silent, looking down at me in awe. Even Rais was silent, though his face still held a scowl. After what seemed like hours of standing there, covered in blood, Rais nodded once, and the lift started descending, all the way to the ground. The gate swung open and he stepped off, followed by two of his guards, both of them holding heavy rifles. He clapped patronisingly, and his guards pointed their rifles at me and flicked them to the ground. I let the machete fall from my hand.

"Well done. I honestly didn't expect you to make it through that. If you hadn't killed so many of my men, I'd offer you a place at my side. As it stands, I think you'll be better off dead." He waved his hand casually and turned around. Both of the guards pointed their rifles at me, and I sprung into action.

I kicked the rifle from the closest guard, sending it flying into the air. I ducked forward and puched the other guard in the stomach, doubling him over. I jumped back and caught the gun as it fell. Firing a shot into both of their heads before aiming it at Rais. He turned slowly and sneered at me.

"Go ahead, shoot me. Kill me just like all the others you've killed, your friends and family. All dead because of you. You're nothing more then a failure, and i know exactly who you are. How could I forget a scar like that." I shook my head, tears welling in my eye.

"No," I lowered the rifle slightly. "I won't kill you. But I'm going to make you fucking suffer." I pulled the trigger, and the round tore through his leg, punching a hole the size of a coin. His leg gave way instantly, and he fell with a yell of pain. A gate slammed behind me, and I turned to see more bandits rushing into the arena. I ran for the lift, bullets kicking up clouds of dust. I jumped and grabbed onto the metal railing, and slammed the button.

It started to grind slowly upwards. A bullet punched through the control panel, narrowly missing my head. Behind me was a gate, I ran and jumped, vaulting over the edge. I landed hard on the other side, twisting my ankle. I limped to a drain pipe, and dropped down, sliding along the concrete walls until I landed in a pool of water at the bottom. Kicking to the surface, I gulped down air, and swam for the ladder on the other side of the reservoir.

I collapsed at the top, my clothes dripping water, blonde hair sticking to my mask and covering my eye. I rested a hand on my rapidly beating heart. I waited until I'd clamed down before I stood, and started making my way back to the Tower.


	15. Chapter 11: Fire Rekindled

**A bit shorter than many others, just setting up the next chapter mainly. Enjoy!**

 **I don't own Dying Light, Techland still hasn't returned my emails.**

* * *

 _I rested a hand on my rapidly beating heart. I waited until I'd clamed down before I stood, and started making my way back to the Tower._

* * *

 **Ardelis**

* * *

It had been a week since Val had left for Sector 0, and a week and a half since I'd escaped the fucked up arena Rais was running. I had no idea what was happening over in the other quarantine, all of the radios had stopped working two days ago. It was a complete blackout, we couldn't talk with others in the slums, so we were stuck using runners as couriers.

Two runners I'd never seen before arrived a few days ago with Sammy, the kid who went missing with his father.

I'd asked who they were, all they said was Saviours. I asked about Val, and they just said she was safe. They didn't seem to want to talk much, just get their business over with and leave. They looked tired, dead on their feet almost, as if they'd runn through hell and back to get here. AS soon as Sammy was safe, they left.

Sammy seemed quieter than usual, every sound made him jump. His mother later told me that he kept talking about a girl with red hair fighting a devil.

That made my mind up for me. I was going to Sector 0.

* * *

The smell of rotting flesh hit me like a train. I gagged and covered my mouth and nose with my shirt. It did little to block out the smell.

A pair of corpses sat outside the single room in the tunnel, both of their ribcages had been torn apart.

The room was a mess: dried blood stained the walls, floor and ceiling. There were three bodies in the room. A headless girl, a trail of blood leading half way up. A man, his body twisted at an unnatural angle. The last body was a huge infected, almost like a Volatile, but twice as big. Most of the blood and smell was coming from this thing, a gaping hole was carved into its neck, and bullet casings littered the floor around it.

All of the bodies were decomposing, flies buzzed around them. I searched around the room and found the severed head of the girl, the brown hair telling me that it wasn't Val. Finding nothing more, I left the room in a hurry, and ran deeper underground.

* * *

The tunnel started narrowing, becoming more and more rundown and rocky. At one stage I passed by a half buried biter. It looked like it had turned long ago, its clothes were almost gone, as was most of its muscle and skin. A deep hole was carved into its head, possibly from a knife.

I kept moving, until I entered a room not much larger than the tunnels. There were several pulped corpses in one corner, and a message was carved into the stone beside the exit, on the other side of the room.

 _If you must use these tunnels, do not touch the moss or the water under any circumstance._

Looking into the tunnel, I could see nothing, it was completely pitch black. Every so often, something would echo from within, almost like a voice. Steeling myself for whatever I would find, I stepped into the tunnel.

The temperature dropped several degrees almost instantly, the darkness becoming oppressive, and the air becoming stuffy, as if it was trying to suffocate me. I flicked my torch on, and gazed around what I could see. It looked old, older than the city. As if the sewers had been built around this. Following along the side of the path was a small creek, clumps of moss floated in it, bobbing gently in the current, but never moving further than they were. A red trail flowed from the moss, staining the water down stream red.

My footsteps echoed eerily as I continued on, the tunnel slowly widening. My torch did little to brighten the tunnel this far in, like something was in the air making it darker. Eventually, the tunnel widened out into a huge cavern, and the air cleared, becoming brighter and easier to breathe. A lake or hole in the centre was filled with water. There were several smaller tunnels running off the opposite side of the cavern.

An arrow was carved into the wall next to one of the tunnels, with crosses next to others. Sounds echoed through, bats or insects, or dripping water. In the background, so faint I could barely hear it, was a person calling for help.

I ran to the tunnels on the other side, and stopped, listening again for the cries of help. They echoed louder, from the tunnel next to the one with the arrow. I ran in, not a second thought for my safety, but carefully staying away from the moss covered walls. The further I went, the louder the cries became, but they also became more garbled, as if they were struggling to speak. The tunnel widened without warning, and I skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding falling into a shallow lake. I couldn't tell if the water was red, or if it was blood.

In the middle of the lake, the person was crouched over, sat on a small outcropping of rock that was joined to the outside path by a small bridge. They looked almost joined to the rock by tendrils of... something. I couldn't tell what, and I wasn't sure I wanted to know. Stepping cautiously onto the bridge, the persons cries became louder, as if they could sense I was there. I shuddered as his words registered with me.

 _"Please... I know you're there. Just... just kill me... please. It hurts, it hurts so much."_ Pulling my hand gun from my pack, I aimed and crept closer. Their head snapped up as I stepped onto the central island. It was a man, or at least it used to be. He was halfway changed between a volatile and a person, with just enough humanity left to speak. I pressed the gun against his forehead. Right before I pulled the trigger, he spoke one last time.

 _"Thank you."_ Blood sprayed behind him, and he slumped over dead. My ears rang from firing in such an enclosed space. The tendrils connecting him to the water shrivelled, and dropped off his body, leaving him to fall over to the ground. I stowed the gun in my pack, and walked back out of the room, not turning around.

I'd heard stories from runners who had to meet couriers in the tunnels of people being dragged off by Volatiles, I never knew if they were true or not, but now that I did, I wasn't sure I wanted to remember.

* * *

I breathed the outside air deep. I'd been underground for almost 6 hours, and it felt like I was breathing for the first time. The sun was setting, bathing the whole city in a deep orange glow. In the centre of the city, a pair of clock towers, both unfinished, rose in the centre, casting long shadows. A huge tarp fluttered in the slight wind. The words _"Survivors Inside"_ were painted in a bright blue. It was like a whole different world.

Jumping down onto a lower rooftop, I started making my way towards the towers. The streets were crawling with infected, and so were some of the rooftops. Having to avoid the infected where ever I could, it took me almost two hours to reach the base. Looking up, memories of climbing the Infamy Bridge came back to me, along with Vals words.

"I agree, a grappling hook would be amazing." Jumping up to grab the lowest scaffold, I started pulling myself up to the top. My arms burned slightly by the time I reached the top, months of running having built up my endurance. Walking into what I assumed was the main room, I was met with a rifle pointed at my face. I raised my hands slowly.

"Who are you? What do you want?" The woman holding the gun looked as old as me, half of her face was burnt.

"I'm looking for my sister Valerija. I was hoping maybe that she'd been here." The woman lowered her gun.

"You just missed her, she said she was heading off to the west district. If you hurry, you should be able to catch her." I nodded in thanks as I ran from the room. Quickly looking at the sun, I set off west, closing my eyes as I slid down a zip line. I vaulted across rooftops, searching for any sign of her.

After almost 20 minutes of searching, a flash of vibrant orange caught my eye. Snapping my gaze over, I knew instantly it was her. Her back was turned to me, she seemed to be staring out over the ocean, waiting for something. I ran closer, my footsteps muffled by the paper waste on the ground. As I stepped onto the same rooftop as her, a ringing sound echoed. She lifted a radio from her belt, surprising me as they were all supposed to be cut off. I stopped dead as a voice I thought I'd never hear again floated over.

 _"Rosier, report observations."_


	16. Chapter 12: Collision

_She lifted a radio from her belt, surprising me as they were all supposed to be cut off. I stopped dead as a voice I thought I'd never hear again floated over._

 _"Rosier, report observations."_

* * *

Everything seemed frozen. All I could see was my sister, and that radio. The voice coming from it was so deadly familiar. It was the same one that encouraged me to destroy a critical shipment of Antizin. The GRE. Valerija pressed the button on the side of the radio.

"Nothing major. Kadir is hiding somewhere in the city, I've lost track of him. My sister doesn't suspect me, she's too torn up about losing Rahim to care about much else."

 _"Good, we can't have her finding out about you."_ Val sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I still don't see why I can't just tell her. She could help!"

 _"No, she's too unstable. It would be a liability to have her know about your mission. You haven't forgotten, have you Rosier?"_

"Get the file, fake your death, get out." She sighed again, and I shifted closer, sticking behind any cover I could find. "Do I really have to fake my death? Ari wouldn't want to keep on living if she thought I was dead."

 _"It's critical to the mission that no one in the quarantine knows you're alive, it would be too much of a risk. Too many variables. Its better that way. Continue your mission. We'll call again soon."_

"Yeah yeah, Rosier out." She hooked the radio back on her belt, and turned to walk past where I was hiding. I readied myself and jumped, tackling her to the ground. I held her arms down beside her, I didn't want her to stab me.

She shook her head, flicking the hair out of her face. When she saw it was me, her eyes widened in shock.

"Ari? What are you doing? I thought you were still at the Tower?" I laughed coldly.

"It would have been so much better had I stayed there, right? Wouldn't want me getting in the way of your plans? Tell me Val, how were you gonna do it?" I tightened my hold on her wrists.

"Do what? Ari come on, you're hurting me."

"Fake your death of course." I spat, my anger boiling over. Her look of shock brought a smile to my face. I knew she was my sister, but right now I just couldn't care.

"I wasn't... you wouldn't understand. It has to be done."

"What does Val? What has to be done? You faking your death? Or your observations, Rosier?" I snarled our last name, I'd never felt more ashamed to be part of her family. Her face fell, she instantly looked years older.

"So you heard that did you? I should have guessed. But it's not what you think, they just want to help. To make sure everyone can survive." I laughed coldly.

"You really have no idea do you?" She looked at me oddly, and tried to free her hands. I tightened my grip more. "They're lying to you Val. They don't want to help us, why do you think the airdrops stopped? Months ago, they told me to destroy a shipment of Antizin when we needed it. They're using you Val, why can't you see that? They aren't fighting for the people in the Tower, they're fighting for them." This time it was Val who laughed, it sounded colder than mine.

"You think they aren't fighting for the Tower? We've been working with Brecken for months! He was the one who suggested destroying the shipments so Jade would get desperate enough to deal with Rais. All those missions you got sent out on? That was us, getting you out of the Tower before you could know I was still here. You didn't think it was an accident that you found me in the market?" She shifted under me, but I held her down. "And the airdrops stopping? That was all me. All this cause we needed to get someone to meet with Rais, to see if he was the guy." Her face twisted into one of annoyance. "But you had to fuck the whole thing up. If you hadn't shot him in that stupid fucking arena, I would have had him and been gone. It would have been better that way, no more time to get attached to anyone else. But now he's here, in the city, and I don't have the slightest fucking clue where he is!" My mind skipped back to what she said about Brecken. Something in me snapped, maybe it was the fact that she had been in the city for months before I found her, or the fact that Brecken had agreed to destroy a shipment when we needed it. I pressed my hand down on her shoulder, and she let out a scream of pain. I pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal a bite wound, black and infected. I chuckled lowly.

"You know, for everything you've done, lying to me for months on end, this is the least of what you deserve." I pushed myself off the ground, and turned to leave. "You can fucking rot, for all I care." And I walked out of her life for the last time.

* * *

 _3 Months Later_

* * *

I threw the package to the guard on the door, he'd know how to deal with it. As I entered into the apartment complex, the acrid smell of smoke filled my senses. Tahir was leaned against the wall just inside, a cigarette hanging from his mouth. We'd put our differences aside from the damage we did to each other. An eye for an arm, were his words. He grunted a greeting to me as I walked past, and flicked a hand to the room opposite.

I knocked on the door lightly, and it swung open instantly. I caught the glint of a blade sailing towards me and ducked on instinct, pulling my own blade from my belt with ease. With a solid thwack, a dagger buried itself to the handle into the door frame, and I raised my own arm to throw. The sound of clapping stopped me at the last second, and I let my arm drop to my side. Rais was stood in the middle of the room, a cane balanced against the table to his left.

In the months since Valerijas true colours had been revealed, I'd found purpose in the form of working with Rais. He had forgiven me for shooting him, saying that we do what we must to survive. The wound had never fully healed though, leaving him with a constant limp. After I'd found out that Brecken had been working with the GRE, the tower had stopped feeling like home.

"Welcome back my friend. It is good to see you have not lost your flair. I trust it went off without a hitch?"

"For the most part, they paid in full." He nodded his head in acceptance.

"Good, good. I think it's time I stepped up your, how should I put this... position, in my little group. There's just one small task you have to do first." I crossed my arms and gave him a look. He chuckled softly and grabbed the cane, before limping over and slinging his arm around my shoulders. "Don't worry, it's nothing you cannot handle. If you do this right, you will be second only to Tahir." I sighed heavily.

"Fine, what do I need to do?"

"It's simple." He limped away from me, grabbed a folder on the table, and handed it to me. I flipped it open, and saw a picture of Jade. "Kill the Scorpion."


	17. Sasha

**Sasha**

* * *

It had been two weeks since Sammy had made it back to the Tower. Brecken had sent Jade to pick him up, so we knew he was in safe hands. Gerald had been away for most of that time on a courier run, over to the Far City. It was a ten day round trip, across the river to the shores lined with skyscrapers. He had to use the tunnels under the city, the network spanning all the way to the countryside.

I threw a ball against the side of the building. It bounced off at an angle and fell to the street below. I sighed and leaned back against the short brick chimney. There had been no jobs for this sector since Gerald left, some girl had been taking them all. Adelia or something, I hadn't paid much attention. That left me with nothing to do, and boredom was setting in quickly.

A hand came down on my shoulder, startling me. I flipped myself around, kicking my foot out into the persons chest. They stumbled backwards and caught themselves just before they went off the edge of the roof.

"Damn it Sash, that's not the greeting I was expecting." Gerald chuckled deeply, and rubbed at his ribs. My face flushed red as I realised I'd almost killed him. He walked forwards and pulled me into a hug, one that I quickly returned.

"Christ Gerald, I almost killed you." I mumbled into his shoulder.

"It'll take more than a three story drop to kill me." He stepped back. "Come on, I'll race you to the University."

* * *

 _Two Weeks Later_

* * *

The zombies head flew off in a slow arc. I spun on my heel and embedded my sword in another's head. Behind me I heard Gerald's rifle fire several times. Off in the distance, I could hear the screeches of Volatiles.

"Gerald! Hit the fucking power!" I jumped out of the path of a Viral, severing an arm at the shoulder. A Volatile vaulted the fence in front of me, and sailed through the air towards me. There was a flash of blue, and the small construction yard was bathed in UV light. The Volatile screeched in pain, writhing on the ground. Huge glowing blisters broke out along its skin. It gave a final shuddering breath and went still. I jabbed my sword through its head, just to make sure, and turned to face Gerald. He was covered in blood, leaning heavily on the side of the fence, his rifle discarded on the ground.

We looked at each other for a moment, before breaking out in laughter.

* * *

 _Two and a Half Months Later_

* * *

I dodged back out of the path of the woman's machete. I kicked at the back of her leg, sending her off balance. She recovered quickly, taking another swing at me. I deflected the blow with my sword, before using the dagger in my other hand to slice at her neck. It missed it's mark and dug into the mask she wore. She jumped back and hissed in what I assumed to be pain.

"Don't stick yourself into others business." The voice sounded familiar, almost as if I'd heard it before.

"It's my business when you come into our home!" Three black stripes lined the arm of her jacket. "Especially since Rais sent you!"

"You should have just stayed out of my way, bitch!" In one motion, she pulled a knife from her belt and hurled it at me. My eyes widened in shock, and I dived to the left. But I wasn't quick enough.

The knife buried itself to the handle in my shoulder. I let out a scream of pain and dropped to my knees. I could feel blood flowing from the wound. I felt her foot plant on the opposite shoulder. "Now stay the fuck down." The knife was wrenched out of my shoulder. My vision blurred, and the wound burned immensely. I saw a flash of movement, and felt something connect with the side of my head. And everything went black.

* * *

 _Three Weeks Later_

* * *

"Get everyone to the next floor up! Now!" The crossbow jerked slightly as I sent a bolt through the closest zombie. I could hear Gerald firing his rifle behind me. We were getting over run, there were just too many of them. I fired another bolt, and another zombie fell.

"Everyone's gone! Get out!" One of the guards yelled at us to move. I threw my belt of grenades down the hall, hoping to block it, and ran up the stairs. The ground shook with the explosion, shaking dust from the roof. I turned to Gerald, only to see he wasn't there. I raced back down the stairs, and was greeted by a wall of rubble. It was silent, nothing moved. He was gone.

* * *

 _Four Days Later_

* * *

An explosion echoed across the city. The top of a skyscraper in the Far City detonated in a flash of red fire. From my spot on the edge of the river, I could almost feel the intense heat. I waited, seeing if anything else happened. This many months into the quarantine there wasn't much to do.

Half an hour later, another explosion ripped through the building halfway up. The tower snapped down the middle, and I heard it collide with the near by buildings.

Whatever had happened over there, I could tell it was far from over.


	18. Chapter 13: A Step Closer to the End

_"It's simple." He limped away from me, grabbed a folder on the table, and handed it to me. I flipped it open, and saw a picture of Jade. "Kill the Scorpion."_

* * *

 **Ardelis**

* * *

"I'm sorry, what?" He chuckled humourlessly, limping over and placing a hand on my shoulder.

"She has been a particularly painful splinter for too long. I want her removed from my side for good. I had thought you were up to the task... but it seems I was mistaken." He pulled the folder from my hands. He turned to leave when an idea popped into my head.

"Wait! Wait." He turned back to me and raised an eyebrow. "I'll do it." He smiled coldly at me.

"Wonderful, you can leave now, yes?" I nodded once and left the room.

* * *

It was almost midnight when I finally reached the Tower. It looked no different than when I'd left almost five months ago. Using the darkness as cover, I crept closer, keeping low to the ground.

I slipped into the lobby, my soft footsteps seemed so much louder in the silence. I pulled myself over the ledge to the second floor. There was no one. No guards, no civilians, nothing. I thanked dumb luck and stood slowly. The elevator dinged, and the doors slid open, flooding the room with light.

A woman stepped out, and in my stupidity, I was frozen. Her eyes flicked over to me, and she stumbled in shock, before pulling a sword from her hip.

"Who are you?" I stayed silent. She dropped into a fighting stance. "I won't ask you again. Who are you?" I shook my head and took a step towards her.

"This should be fun." And I leapt forward, drawing my machete.

* * *

The woman slumped to the ground unconscious. I felt a sudden pang of regret as I looked at her form. She hadn't even wanted to fight me, just protect the others from the unknown.

 _Maybe I was too hasty._

I pulled her into a sitting position inside the elevator, and reached into my pack, removing a medkit.

I patched up her shoulder as best I could, but she would always have a scar. I pressed the button for the 19th floor. Someone would help her. As the lift rumbled upwards, I sighed and turned to the stairs.

It would be a long climb up. I squeezed between the fences blocking the stairway, stumbling into the unknown. I climbed up to the second floor, and the third. It wasn't until I reached the 12th that I saw any infected. As I climbed the last stair and stepped onto the floor, a group of biters stumbled into view. On their own they were easy, but in groups, they could easily overpower me.

They had no brain function left to register pain. It was why they were so formidable. They didn't tire, and they didn't hurt.

I took a step to the side, trying to find a room to hide in. My foot kicked something, a corpse. As the zombie's eyes swept over in my direction, I jabbed my machete down into the corpse's chest and cut. I scooped out a handful of rotted flesh, cringing at the smell. I smeared it over my clothes, hoping to mask my scent.

The infected's eyes skipped over me completely, and they shambled off down the hall.

Thanking whatever god was watching me, I slipped up the next stairwell.

* * *

I reached the barrier between the 18th and 19th floors and squeezed over the top of the fence blocking it. My feet hit the ground with a muffled thud. Since it was so late, the only guard would be at the lifts. In their eyes, no one would be crazy enough to climb the interior of the Tower.

I slipped up the last flight of stairs, heading for room 209. Jade's.

I pushed the door open, closing it silently. Pulling my knife, I crept into the other room. She was passed out on the couch, her blade just out of reach. I crept across the room, pressing my knife to her neck, I didn't want her killing me. It woke her with a start, her eyes flying wide at the sight of my mask.

"You." She hissed through her teeth. "What do you want?" I pulled my mask off with my free hand and watched her eyes widen further. A warm look came across her face before it twisted into anger. The next second I was on the floor, my own knife pressed against my throat. "What are you doing back here?" I tried to pry my knife away but her hold was too strong.

"Jade..."

"I said what are you doing here?" She pressed the knife harder, I could feel it drawing blood.

"I'm saving your life. Rais wants you dead, so you better get the fuck out of here or you will be." She slowly pulled the knife away, and my hand immediately went up to my neck. Another scar to add to my collection. She climbed off me and slumped onto the couch, while I pushed myself up onto my elbows. She glared at me for a second, before her expression softened, and she patted the seat beside her.

"Before... before you tell me anything, about this shit with Rais. You need to tell me what happened with..." She paused and let out a shaky sigh. "No, I have to know, what happened with Rahim. I think I'm ready to know." I pushed myself to my feet, and fell onto the couch beside Jade. I instantly felt like someone had dropped a weight onto my shoulders. I thought I was beyond explaining all this, that I wouldn't have to come back to it. I rubbed a hand over my eyes.

And so I told her, everything. About how Rahim came to me with his idea, how I told him not to, and that he should wait to talk it over, to think more about it. I told her about how I was pissed at him for not listening to me, and running off with Omar to do it anyway. About how it destroyed me when I found out what had happened to him, and how I pulled away from everyone for the months after it happened.

When I was done, I felt lighter than I thought I would. It was different than when I confided in my sister on top of the bridge. It felt like I could finally let go. I was pulled across the couch into a hug, I could feel Jade's body shake with each sob she let out.

"I'm so... sorry that I thought... that I thought you did nothing." I did my best to console her, I was never good with dealing with others emotions. After a few minutes, she stopped crying. She wiped her eyes, and sat up straighter, going back to the Jade I knew. "So, what's this plan you have?"

* * *

We trekked through the tunnels under the river, each step carrying us further away from everything.

We were headed for the city on the other side, hoping to start new over there. I had nothing left for me. Rahim was dead, my sister a traitor, Rais would certainly want my head after this. It was better for everyone if I just left.

The tunnels vibrated slightly, the explosives I had set at the entrance to the tunnels detonating, sealing the tunnels behind us. There was no going back now.

We walked for hours, our footsteps echoing through the silent tunnels. Jade didn't speak the whole time, and I wasn't inclined to talk. I had too much to think about, like I had for the past weeks.

I hadn't truly accepted what my sister had done. As much as I wanted to hate her I couldn't, it was only us left in our family, and I didn't want to be the only one left. I remembered back months ago, when I fought her on that roof top. When I swore she could rot from the infected bite. Now, I wasn't sure if I meant it. If I really wanted her to become one of those things.  
I suppose that was why I was running away, so I wouldn't have to face her if she turned. So I wouldn't have to kill another one of my sisters.

My foot caught on something, pulling me out of my memories. I reached my hands out to grab hold of something, but I wasn't quick enough, and they slid off the wall. Throwing my arms out in front of me, I landed hard on my right hand, and felt something pop. I bit my lip to stifle a scream, my wrist throbbed in pain, I could already feel it going numb. Jade pulled me up by my arm, and I cradled my wrist protectively.

"Shit, you can't fight with that." My wrist was bent at an odd angle, not broken, but badly dislocated. I was hopeless at fighting with my left hand, which left me defenceless, save for my handgun. I would only use that as a last resort, it would draw too much attention otherwise.

The alarm on Jades watch beeped. _8:30pm_ flashed on the small screen. Almost night.

"Come on Ari, we have to keep moving. It's too dangerous to stop." We trudged forwards, and before long I could see a dim orange glow surrounding one of the doors. Jade pushed on the handle, and it swung open with a squeal that echoed through the tunnels.

A distance screech answered, followed by another closer one. We scrambled through the door, slammed and shut and threw the bolt across. It was an old door of heavy steel, built to withstand extreme water pressure. We would be safe in here. At least until we had to leave.


	19. AN: No More Updates

**In the year I've been writing this I've had almost 2 000 views, a number that I never ever expected to reach. And it's been 3 months song I updated, and that whole time I've been trying to think of something, anything, to write.**

 **And I've got nothing. Absolutely nothing. There have been so so many chapters that have been written, deleted and rewritten again. So many branching storylines that just went nowhere. I tried jumping into the past, to tell a tale of Ardelis' life before the outbreak. I played around with a whole new set of characters. Nothing seemed to stick, nothing stood out to me.**

 **So, I've decided it's in my best interests to end the story where it is. No more chapters, no more updates. Where it is now, I'm leaving it.**

 **I don't even know where it's going, or where the ending is, I was just writing. And doing that can only get you so far. Ending this here opens me up to write more different stories.**

 **So thank you for reading, and hopefully when I write again, you'll all check in for it as much as you did this one.**


	20. AN: Being Rewritten

**It's been just over a year since I declared this story abandoned. And in that time I've constantly had idea on what I could do better, but never the motivation to do it. SO. I'm putting this story through some much needed renovations. It's going to be coming back bigger and better, probably under a different name, maybe a different plot. But the characters and universe will stay the same.**

 **The original was all over the place. A complete mess of ideas that never really came together cohesively. I'm going to give it a better go at making this a proper, readable story. It might take me a while to get the first chapter up, due to working all day, but it will happen, I'm just not sure when.**

 **So keep an eye out because we're going back to Harran.**


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